About Time Shares the Joys of Living in the Moment

Hopefully, no one will confuse the endearing new film About Time with 2009’s overly sentimental The Time Traveler’s Wife. The former, which received limited release last week and goes wide this week, is a heartwarming comedy that wins us over despite its unbelievable gimmick. The latter is a heart-wrenching romance that tests our willingness to suspend disbelief. Oddly enough, Rachel McAdams has a starring role in both films.

A rom-com guru who’s had his hand in fine genre flicks such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, writer-director Richard Curtis works on familiar turf in this coming-of-age romance.  The story centers on 21-year-old Tim Lake (Harry Potter’s Domhnall Gleeson). When his father (Bill Nighy) tells him he’s inherited the ability to travel back in time, Tim immediately transports himself back to kiss a girl on New Year’s Eve. That starts him on the path to try to find true love. When he misses out on an opportunity with Mary (McAdams), an attractive brunette he meets at a “dinner in the dark,” he travels back in time to make sure he asks her out properly. They eventually begin a life together.

Throughout the film, Tim regularly time travels but never tells Mary about his special powers. It’s an odd choice, given that their relationship involves so much love and trust. But that’s just one inconsistency in the plot. As others have noted, a number of plot holes threaten to unravel (and in some estimations do unravel) the entire storyline.

Still, solid acting puts the film a notch about the stereotypical romantic-comedy. Gleeson makes for a good romantic lead and McAdams is equally charming. The two have great chemistry. Nighy is fantastic as Tim’s loving father.

It turns out the ability to jump back through recent history can’t solve every problem and, just as Tim is starting his own family, he is forced to recognize the important roles others play in his life.  Although ostensibly a time travel romance, ultimately the movie is more of a poignant reminder of the joy that can be found in deliberately living in the moment and always fully appreciating those closest to you.