About Time Review

Richard Curtis writes and directs a thoughtfully charming faux-sci-fi story that is one part romance and one part existential discussion of what it means to love. It successfully shifts from a brilliantly executed, slightly cliche romance into a much deeper, bittersweet study of family, time, and happiness. It is shot beautifully, and it is clear that the director also wrote the script because there is a sense of unity about the camerawork, script, and screenplay.

I thought in the beginning third of the film that the time-travel gimmick would wear old or become the major focus of the film, but Curtis diverts expectations so many times, I was completely on board for every theme that he wanted to illuminate. The plot dictates the use of the time travel, so it never becomes meaningless or cheesy. The rules revolving the sci-fi element of the film are a little shaky, and this bothers me as a big fan of hard sci-fi, but as the story progresses, I was more on board.

Domhnall Gleeson's acting is the driving force of the film, and we watch his character thoroughly mature and become more like his father. His relationships, with Mary and his father, are effortlessly realistic, dense, and honestly, beautiful. They reflect our (the audience's) relationships by avoiding syrupy nonsense and focusing on the act of love as unselfish dedication. Tim's relationship with his sister, however, gets somewhat lost in the screenplay. I think that the sweeping scale of the movie in time and events spreads some of the characters' impacts thin, and Tim's sister is one that doesn't seem believable or evoke too much empathy. This isn't a huge portion of the movie, so it is entirely forgivable.

This isn't an exact science, but many of Tim's scenes with his father and Mary are perfectly executed in dialogue and meaning. There is no wasted time, and I felt an overwhelming feeling that these relationships are real, and this comes in an intangible sense of a family's togetherness. Not every scene has this impact on me, again, due to the nature of the "epic."

The meaning of the film that is revealed in the final scenes is straightforward, and it is a perfect extension of the rest of the story. The director clearly had a vision of what this would look like, and his closing moments are impactful to say the least.

Quite possibly the best part about... About Time, is the wrapping. The film takes all of the heartfelt goodness mentioned above, and chops it into little, flavorful bits. Curtis then places all of these bits into a teabag and steeps it in a boiling pot of smug 'britishness'. Us, the audience, gets to drink deeply from that cup of sweet British wit and charm.

8.1/10