About Time

The last time Rachel McAdams was in a romantic movie where her husband could travel through time, the results were the bizarre and disgusting The Time Traveler's Wife.  So, what was I to think about this movie?  The trailers looked awful.  The plot sounds awful.  And after sitting through all two hours of About Time, I have to say that I loved every second of this movie.  I never should've doubt the man who wrote and directed Love Actually.  I'm a sucker for Love Actually.

The story revolves around a young man named Tim whose father sits him down on his twenty first birthday (the son's birthday, not the dad's, but you never know with time travel) to explain to Tim that all the men in this family can travel through time simply by shutting oneself in a closet and clenching one's fists really hard (see what I mean about how deceptively stupid this sounds?).  The time traveling is limited to going into one's own past.  After experimenting with his powers for a summer, Tim leaves for London to be a lawyer.  There he meets Mary and utilizes his abilities in order to woo her and start a family.

The important thing that makes About Time a good time travel romance and The Time Traveler's Wife a garbage time travel romance is that About Time isn't really about time travel.  The Time Traveler's Wife is all about time travel.  It gets so wrapped up in the science fiction nonsense that Rachel McAdam's character starts having miscarriages because the fetuses keep time jumping out of her womb (it's a seriously messed up movie).  About Time uses time travel as a way to show how we all need to appreciate the ups and downs of life and make the most out of our days.

Domhnall Gleeson carries the movie very well.  His portrayal of Tim is very relatable.  He's never all powerful.  He never gets cocky.  He's an everyday guy who just wants to live a good life with people he loves.  Rachel McAdams is amazing as always.  She's so effortlessly endearing.  She makes you believe that she's the kind of gal that a guy would alter time (over and over again) to be with.

I laughed a lot watching About Time.  Richard Curtis is a smart writer and he knows to temper the heavy stuff with comedy.  In fact, the movie is so predominately funny that it's really the comedy that's tempered with heavy drama.  But the sad bits are that much more brutal because of the humor.  This is a movie that'll pull happy tears as well as sad tears out of you.

About Time is a movie that will be getting several more views out of me.  I appreciate when a movie can make me feel anything even if it turns me into a sappy, weepy lump on the couch.  This is one of 2013's really great films.

8 out of 10