About Time

Between English comedies and American comedies, what once was an American majority of better work, is now proving to be an English majority of quality work. This is not exactly a compliment to English comedies since so many American comedies are mediocre at best, so when the English comedy, "About Time" comes along, it's basically a breath of fresh air.

At the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time...The night after another unsatisfactory New Years party, Tim's father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel in time. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens in his own life. So he decides to make his world a better place--by getting a girlfriend. Sadly, that turns out not to be as easy as one might think. Moving from the Cornwall coast to London to train as a lawyer, Tim finally meets the beautiful but insecure Mary (Rachel McAdams). They fall in love, then an unfortunate time travel incident means he's never met her at all. So they meet for the first time again and again--but finally, after a lot of cunning time traveling, he wins her heart. Tim then uses his powers to create the perfect romantic proposal, to save his wedding from the worst best man speeches, to get his pregnant wife to the hospital on time. But as his unusual life progresses, Tim finds out that his unique gift can't save him from the sorrows and ups and downs that affect all families, everywhere. There are great limits to what time travel can achieve, and it can be dangerous too, assuming we can time travel.

Others to round out the cast are Lydia Wilson as Kit Kat, Tim's sister, Lindsay Duncan as Mum, Richard Cordery as Uncle Desmond, Joshua McGuire as Rory, buddy of Tim's, Tom Hollander as Harry, Margot Robbie as Charlotte, Will Merrick as Jay, Vanessa Kirby as Joanna, a friend of Mary's, Tom Hughes as Jimmy Kincade, Clemmie Dugdale as Ginger Jenny, Harry Hadden-Paton as Rupert, and Mitchell Mullen as Mary's father, Fitz.

This was whimsically directed by Richard Curtis ("Love Actually" '03, "Pirate Radio" '09). His ability to make his characters connect in such a positive way, without the appearance of being forced is remarkable, if not incredibly profound. This was also written by Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral" '99, "Bridget Jones's Diary" '01, "Love Actually" '03, "Mr. Bean's Holiday" '07, "Pirate Radio" '09, "War Horse" '11). This is one writer whereas he has actually improved with each screenplay he writes. With the exception of the fact that this film was a little long-in-the-tooth, it was an incredibly taught, well thought out screenplay, and is saying a lot since plots about time travel can easily get bogged down and confusing. Kudos to this writer. If this film says anything, it shows that we can't fix everything. Sometimes just living in the moment is the best one can do.

Yes, this is a romantic comedy, so it really shouldn't be very good, but this proves that if you have the right people working on a project, any genre can soar.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                       Rated: R                         124mins.