About Time

Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams shine in this delightful romantic comedy that will bring a smile to your heart. It's sweet story of love and the joys of struggles of maturing through life. Tim (Gleeson) is a mildly nerdy but totally lovable guy stumbling through life until his father (Bill Nighy) reveals a deep and shocking family secret. All the men in the family have the ability to time travel. They can only go back in time and only to events in their actual life. They can't go back and change history but can redirect events in their own lives. There can be a comparison to GROUNDHOG DAY but ABOUT TIME takes a different direction as Tim mostly uses time travel to enhance his romantic life and always with the best of intentions. Life changes for Tim when he meets lovely Mary (Rachel McAdams) in a dating in the dark event in a pub. Cool idea. Two couples sitting in the dark and talking without seeing what each other looks like. Needless to say a warm love story ensues. McAdams is always lovely and Gleeson's pleasant gangly looks endear him to the audience. Tim loses Mary's number so time travel to the rescue to meet her again. Travelling back to the near past, Tim already knows Mary but she is a stranger to him, so he has to act carefully. Their first night together, Tim feels awkward so he can go back in time twice to improve his performance. The third time is a charm and the idea is hilarious. Tim makes an occasional trip back in time to tweak an event such as who should be his best man. A trip too far back in time to help his troubled sister changes the present in a shocking and unexpected way. Be careful with that time travel. ABOUT TIME is a great rainy day film to enjoy with a loved one or when you just are on your own and want a "lift" after a run day. Sometimes we just need a happy and fun film with no major conflicts or troublesome character. ABOUT TIME is pure fun and delight. If there is one flaw, it's simply that this nice film could have even been better with more humor and time travel. As it is, ABOUT TIME is a delightful sweet film.

I like the idea of time travel movies and thought this looked cute, but it ended up being so much more. It's a wonderful, uplifting, feel-good movie that's romantic, charming, thought provoking and easy to get lost in. The characters are tremendously likable, from Domhnall Gleeson, whose journey from geeky teen to thoughtful man is a pleasure to watch, to Rachel McAdams as the woman he travels through time for, to Bill Nighy as the father whose wisdom and warmth shapes the entire family. While time travel is part of the plot -- at age 21, the men in the family acquire the ability to go back to different points in their own lives -- it's not about changing history, chasing money or fame or using time travel for some grand agenda. Rather, the focus is on the relationships and learning to be happy. There are humorous moments, and some very sweet ones, as well as the inevitable tangle of trying to change one thing and mistakenly undoing other important things that then need to be fixed. But all of this is backdrop -- it's really a story about love, family, and what's truly important in life. It's a bit old fashioned, yet the message is timeless, and the characters are people you want to spend time with. If you're looking for a charming, happy, purely feel-good movie that will leave you feeling uplifted, it doesn't get much better than this.

This was a very interesting perspective on the use and value of time. It is fun but moving and thought-provoking.

There is no doubt in my mind that we will be able in the future travel in time. It can happen when we finally would understand that the time is just our concept and everything happens simultaneously. Like the bubbles rise and burst so do our souls, physical lives and universes. When we shall mount these powers like the main protagonist of this wonderful movie, young man named Tim, we have to be careful like him. If we will not conduct our travels in love, with kindness and acceptance, we can make mistakes like him, when he found after particular travel that his child was a boy and not the girl he left home. This and other contemplations were going through my mind throughout two thirds of the movie and I thought it was boring. I do not like stories about dysfunctional people ( these days perhaps 95 percent of the new movies are like that), but something was telling me that this was not such a movie. All came clearer in the morning after, when I remarked something about this movie to my wife while we were still in the bed. My wonderful wife told me her very different outlook. She liked it very much. She said that she liked all characters, because they loved each other, accepted each other, they were kind and trying to help each other. I realized that in this moving story there were only protagonists, not even one antagonist, trickster, bad ass, or whatever you would call such person. She pointed at the main character, shy young man who was even afraid to kiss the girl he liked, but learned through his travels to be self confident, nice, loving and compassionate. As the story went, he used his travels to concentrate on helping not just himself, but others, especially his troubled sister. Something like that is quite extraordinary in our country, as my wife said. The father is already on the other side, but still hanging around so they can travel in time together with his son to their favorite beach, when he was a young kid. The spectrum of such unselfish family members is enriched by the lovely uncle who maybe is not lucid anymore, but he is still cute, loving and compassionate. Well, the movie is situated in London in the United Kingdom, and the only unsympathetic people in the very short segment are prejudiced American parents visiting their daughter Mary and the future son in law Tim. This ten years old movie has through them only a glimpse of what we see now, growing divisions, prejudices, over-judgements and growing mutual hate in our society which can burry as all. I hope not. This subtle movie ( as my wife classified it) is one of those maybe showing the other, better way.

Really touching story of the love between a father and son. This is such a great movie. Story, direction, performances.

I remember when seeing "Love, Actually" (like this film, written and directed by Richard Curtis) for the first time. How at the beginning, my cynical New York City self was about to check out on the gloopy sentimentality of the opening scenes. Then there came the magic moment where I realised that, "yes, this is a Romantic Comedy. But it's the work of a master of the genre". I let go, and enjoyed the ride. And what a brilliant ride. Now from the writer of "Black Adder", "Mister Bean", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Notting Hill", "The Vicar of Dibley" and a resumé that one would kill to just have a part of, comes his newest: "About Time" Yes, it's a rom com. Get over it lads: you are in the hands of a master. And as with many masters, they tend to transcend genre. With lines of dialogue that are so smart and crisp that you get jealous that you hadn't said it yourself, and an intelligence, playfulness and joy that is so rare, this is a great film. Yes, you will laugh, you will cry and you will feel amazingly wonderful after you watch this film. Read the other reviews for story points, the things I will mention are mostly directed towards those who might question watching this lovely film. Number One: Bill Nighy! Watching him in his lanky, liquid ease is such a pleasure. You are not sure if you want to be him, or to have him as your father (the part he plays in the film and core to a major theme). He is just a pure joy to watch. Number two: Domhnall Gleeson. To digress- one of the problems with Hugh Grant is that though absolutely charming, you tend to watch his bumbling and insecurities and almost love him for them, but then get shocked out of it by thinking "He's too good looking to actually believe any of it". Well, though it is damning praise, Domnhnaill Gleeson has as much wit and charming self deprecating insecurity but is ultimately more believable because he looks more like the rest of us. (I use Hugh Grant as a reference because he is a Curtis favorite with his fantastic turn in Curtis' "4 Weddings" and the slightly less fantastic but still charming role in "Notting Hill" and another great part as Prime Minister in "Love, Actually"). As usual, Curtis brings along a fantastic cast from the leads to all of the supporting cast. So, just adding my voice to the other good reviews. It's just a great film to watch so do it! (And the reason I gave it a 4 star rating is that you have to save 5 stars for the unimpeachable classics. And yes, I unashamedly would consider "Love, Actually" as a 5 star film)

Such a touching story! Great movie that will make you cry

This is an extraordinary little gem of a movie, with sweetness and charm to spare. Sparkling from a quirky center, it showcases the best of our emotional range, mostly those involving the different kinds of love, beginning and ending with a great romance. All of the people are lovely human beings, and the closest thing to a bad guy really isn't that bad at all. The odd plot itself doesn't spend anytime setting itself up. After a very brief introduction through which we get an overview of how idyllic family life is, we drop into a huge New Year's Eve party. The narrator -- the romantically awkward young man, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) -- flubs the New Year's kiss that clearly hurts the young woman he happens to be standing next to at the countdown. The next day, Tim is called by his gentle dad (the always appealing Bill Nighy) to reveal a big secret. The secret was that all the men in the family could travel back in time. There was no further explanation for this ability, and no details were provided as to how many generations this went on, or who discovered it or who bestowed it on them, or why the women don't have the gift, and so on. The filmmakers simply set the odd cornerstone in place, and got the story started. And the thing is, what followed was so lovely, it didn't matter one bit that the details were left out. Tim's dad warns him away from the pursuit of money. Dad, himself, used his extra time to read all of the best novels -- all of Dickens THREE TIMES, he says -- and recommends he use the gift to pursue what would satisfy him most. Tim decides he'd use it to find real romantic love. You'd think by looking at Tim that this was going to be about this awkward young adult getting into goofy situations and using this gift in slapdash ways that were sitcom comical. But it does not go that way at all. To Gleeson's credit, he evolves convincingly from this gangly youth to a solid young man, always aiming from a clear emotional center. After an accidental meeting, he takes particular aim at Mary, a woman as transparent and uncluttered in her affections as he is, and perfectly embodied by Rachel McAdams. Her smile alone launches a thousand good emotions, so it's easy to buy into the chemistry she and Gleeson have. There are warm, humorous exchanges between them that feel breezy, which made it a sheer joy to watch their affections for one another grow. They seem to deserve the best and they get it. They successfully build on what they find in each other, showing the good life as a progression of love itself. Nothing else matters without it, and every scene in some way embodies that theme. Basically it shows that a good life is the consequence of sharing oneself with others. While there were aspects that remind us of a romantic comedy, the comedy was understated, like what would come about from good conversation and a warm heart. That time-travel element in this film is at times left behind as the story moves forward, and you almost forget about it. Tim uses the odd talent rarely, and always toward some greater good, for himself or someone else he loves or respects. And that's what's really appealing about this movie, in that everyone seems to be already full of what's necessary for living, without hangups, and therefore seem to have a lot to give to others. In other words, the plot uses all of the best features inherent in human nature, traits we all have to some degree, and the film reaffirms belief in them. Time travel is just a means to actualize these emotions, and toward the end, it's brought back a time or two almost to consciously remind us that this is where it all started. By that time, you're already so caught up in the plain pleasure of it all, you almost forget the quirky center. After renting this, I thought about this movie for days, and each time I thought of it, I felt good all over again. There were moments that were deeply moving, other parts that had me beaming with joy. I knew I had to have this to watch again and again. It's uplifting; it's life affirming; it accentuates our better natures. This is highly recommended for what ails you. That is, if anything ails you. If not, you'll still love it. _____________________________________________________________________________________________