There’s a reason it’s been four long years since Richard Curtis made a Richard Curtis film. Yes. he wrote War Horse, but that was very different to what we’re used to. A Richard Curtis film is synonymous with nervous leads, love at first sight and lots of politely spoken folk. Well now he’s back with all of that, four years after The Boat That Rocked, and it seems he’s been working on a masterpiece, About Time.
Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) has just turned 21 and it’s the start of the new year. And what a start it is when his father (Bill Nighy) reveals to him that the men in their family can travel through time. While Tim believes this to be a prank he plays along with it until he realises, well, it’s actually not, much to his disbelief and his fathers smugness – who is quite obviously re-living this same conversation, but from the other side this time. While the inner works of the time travel aren’t explained, we do know that Tim can only travel in his own time-line, just like his father with his own. Tim decides his main desire is get himself a girlfriend, something which he considers to be his biggest obstacle in life. He decides to move to London, leaving behind his father, mother (Lindsay Duncan) and adorable sister, Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson) as he ventures into the big bad world. Moving in with angry-at-the-world playwright, Harry (Tom Hollander in a near show stealing performance), Tim soon meets the girl of his dreams in Mary (Rachel McAdams). The film follows their lives, as Tim makes mistakes and uses his powers to go back and fix them. But it’s nothing too momentous, just awkward social situations he wants to fix. But selflessly Tim also goes back to help other people in his life and fix their problems, such as Harry’s disastrous opening night and his sister in her time of need. This is a big reveal to the sort of man Tim really is, sweet and caring, and this is when we really become invested in his character, taking him from the usual Richard Curtis bumbling leading man to being something much more powerful and likeable.
About Time is quite strange in that it doesn’t tackle one large plot fall out, instead it’s more about Tim maturing through life, and understanding all of its lessons. He begins to understand when to use time travel, and why he was using it in the first place. When younger he’ll use it to fix any little mistake, but as he matures he learns that embracing these mistakes is what life is all about. Yes there are small plot points which could be frowned upon such as never truly going into the inner works of the time travel, but the characters themselves don’t really understand why or how it’s possible, and this isn’t a sci-fi flick, so it’s forgivable that it’s just glazed over. While the first half of About Time is exactly how the trailer depicts it to be, the second half is a complete surprise – and the best kind at that. Ultimately it’s a film about many things, a film about boy meets girl, a father and a son, a brother and a sister. All in all About Time is just a film about life, family and human connection.
Richard Curtis’ films aren’t for everyone, and that’s fine. But what’s not to love about a soulful message about life. About the struggles and complexities and charms and wonders of it all. We all live it, we all experience it on a daily basis, and we’re all, deep-down, looking for the same thing, to be happy in life. That sums up a Richard Curtis film, and especially About Time in a nutshell. He takes what we’re all chasing after, wraps it up in a nice little box and presents it to us on the big screen. Curtis captures all of life’s moments, big and small, and tells them so wonderfully, truthfully and with such heart. Moments such as meeting a girl that you know will change your life, and having that walk home by yourself with only her on your mind. All these very real and profound moments can be found within Curtis’ bumbly world.
The cast is fantastic, and mostly new for Curtis. Gleeson and McAdams have beautiful chemistry while Nighy and Hollander steal the show in their own very different performances. If About Time does become Curtis’ final film in the directors seat (as he’s been suggesting) then he’s going out well and truly with a bang. This is by far his most personal work, and you can see that he’s become wiser and even more romantic – not just about love, but life in general – over the years and it all pours out into the film like a welcomed warm fuzzy feeling.
About Time is in cinemas across the UK now and will be released in the US November 1st.
Rating: You’ll leave the cinema wanting to live your life like a Richard Curtis film (8/10).
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