It’s not a time travel story of love. It is a love story with time travel. With all the romantic clichés and plot devices in About Time, I feel like a “phrase that changes 2 words around to sound profound” is the best way to describe the movie. Directed by Love Actually director Richard Curtis, About Time contains the elements from the director’s previous efforts (love, vignettes, colorful peripheral characters) without ever coalescing into a full length feature. About Time tries so hard to get us to love it, but like true love, it’s pretty easy to see through.
Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) is your typical dorky twenty something: he’s got doofus friends, a quirky family, and severe trouble dealing with women. On his 21st birthday, Tim’s dad (Bill Nighy) tell him that the men in his family can travel in time if they go to a dark place and clench their fists. Tim uses this to try to fall in love on several occasions, but doesn’t really feel that connection until he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams). Mary is shy, sweet, and kind of awkward like Tim, and their shared interest causes Tim to believe her to be the one. Tim uses his powers to help convince her of this, and the two slowly fall in love after multiple attempts. Along the way, Tim learns what happens if he travels back in time to Mary, his sister, his dad, and his own children.
The vignettes disservice About Time. The vignettes worked in Love Actually because of the greater breadth of characters and storytelling. By having more stories, using love as the connective tissue helps showcase love in all its forms. In About Time, there are only 2 storylines: Tim and his family, and Tim and Mary. Both stories explore similar themes, and underutilize the concept of love and time. Think about it, if you miss the first sight part of love at first sight, how can you reconnect in a similar way at a different time? Also, can you pinpoint when you plant the idea for a divorce in your spouse’s head? These themes are approached at times in About Time, but never get addressed in favor of a laugh or a tender character moment.
Which brings us to the time travel conundrum. It is so hard to fall into using the travel solely as a plot device, and unfortunately About Time takes that route. Tim and Mary’s first meeting is a cute affair (that could never happen because the location is SO ridiculous) that establishes their connection immediately, but something forces Tim to go back in time and therefore miss their first meeting. As such, Mary meets someone else and Tim has to recreate a new moment; however, that first moment is so sweet that the second meet cute comes off more creepy than sweet because of the inordinate amount of information Tim knows to push Mary’s love buttons. An old flame comes back, but instead of pursuing two lives to see which is better than the other, the non-Rachel McAdams character is quickly dismissed. Worst of all, the most intriguing time travel issue (the baby you have is a product of an exact sperm and time) is pushed aside in the third act by the phrase: “Well, as long as we’re careful” for an emotional catharsis. When time travel is used well it can be amazing, but About Time is more interested in the romance and family than the time travel.
Fortunately, About Time’s leads are solid across the board; only on the periphery are there cracks in the acting armor. Domhnall Gleeson is probably known as part of the Weasley family in Harry Potter to most people, but he is very charming and mostly likable here. His humor needs more work, and he oversells his awkwardness around the opposite sex. However, his dramatic arcs with Mary and especially his dad are solid from beginning to end; Gleeson’s strength is his ability to show his feelings, and Tim is probably the most relatable person here. Rachel McAdams is now on her 2nd time travel romance story, and she’s much better in this one than the first. She is easily the weakest of the three principals, but she makes Mary a down to earth girl whom every man wishes they could fall in love with. Her part isn’t necessarily hard, but she doesn’t drag the movie down either. Bill Nighy carries with him the same spark that he carried in Love Actually here. Nighy is equal parts charming, wise, and lovable; the best scenes in the film revolve around him. I found the rest of the cast OK and mostly trying too hard to be quirky, but some have their moments like Tom Hollander as a pissed off director and Joshua McGuire as a sad sack at work.
About Time is a 3rd date movie. It’s the one you take your significant other to see in hopes that the relationship will go into “the next level.” Even if the primary interests for your date will not be the film itself, About Time is very cute, harmless, and passable entertainment. Next time we see a Weasley travel back in time though, it should be in the Wizarding world.