Directed by Richard Curtis
Starring:
Domhnall Gleeson
Rachel McAdams
Bill Nighy
Tom Hollander
Margot Robbie
Lydia Wilson
Running time: 123 minutes
Plot Synopsis:
When Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) turns 21 his dad (Bill Nighy) shares a family secret with him: the men in their family are able to time travel & change things in their past. Tim decides to use this to get a girlfriend.
I’m not the biggest fan of Richard Curtis films. While I enjoy watching them, there’s always a character or two that annoy me and then when I think about the movies more later on, I always end up liking them even less. Didn’t like Notting Hill that much – Julia Roberts was annoying. The lesser characters in that film were the best. Four Weddings And A Funeral wasn’t as good as the hype and, again, the female lead was annoying. Then there was Love Actually, which I saw in the cinema and kind of enjoyed but, on reflection, man there are some hateful characters in that one! At least with that film, there were SO MANY characters that you could focus more on the stories & people you liked. I guess. Oh, and I’m not the biggest fan of Hugh Grant, either. And although Curtis just co-wrote the screenplay, not the book, can I just say that Bridget Jones gets on my nerves? It wasn’t at all shocking that she had trouble getting a boyfriend! Obnoxious cow.
Wow – I sound really bitchy. Lol! I guess the point I’m trying to make is this: About Time is, overall, better than all the above films. It has its flaws and its couple of slightly “quirky” characters like in all Curtis films. But it feels less contrived than previous films and gets its point across really well without having to shove its message down our throats. It’s not trying too hard to please every single moviegoer with lots of different stories and characters like in Love Actually – it keeps things very simple which I think makes it a much better film. We get to really know and care about the main characters in this film. And they’re likeable and realistic in this one! (Aside from the sister being made the quirky one but she’s not TOO annoyingly quirky). Oh! And the American female lead is also, for once, totally likeable as well! Yay!
FYI BOYS: Margot Robbie is in this
I really wanted to see this one as I read several very positive reviews (especially from male bloggers!) here on WordPress. The main one I remember was from Tom at Digital Shortbread (his review is HERE). I was curious as to why so many guys liked what appeared to be a romantic comedy, especially as I’m not the type of girly girl who normally likes those types of movies (sometimes – it depends on my mood!). I can tell you now, staying spoiler free, that it IS romantic but it’s not a comedy. It’s also not JUST about romance, like it at first seems it’s going to be. There’s a big focus on the relationship between the main character (Domhnall Gleeson) and his father (Bill Nighy). I loved this! His relationship with Rachel McAdams was great & totally believable (they seem like real people in a real relationship – no sickly sweet stuff) but the father/son relationship is what ended up really making the film for me.
So don’t run away from this one, guys – there’s something here for both male and female viewers. The film starts out a little slow and it did take me a while to get into it but, once it finished, I thought it was pretty damn good overall and I loved the direction it decided to take at the end. As for the time travel?? Ignore that – this movie is NOT about that. I think it probably breaks every possible rule about time travel and some of it made no sense. It was simply used as the device to get across the (very simple yet very good) message of the film. Not too bad, Richard Curtis!
My Rating: 7/10
Agreed! 🙂 I had some fun with this one. It’s pretty schmaltzy at times, but it’s Richard Curtis! It’s what you expect. Nice performances and I wanted to call my dad when i came out of the cinema 🙂
Yep – Curtis knows how to do schmaltzy! But it really was a great father/son relationship in this. : )
I’m glad you enjoyed this. I am not one of the (male) viewers who like it; I think it near rubbish. And nowhere near as good as most of Curtis’ work.
But good review all the same – it’s always fun reading a different opinion.
I’d go along with this. Just need to get you to agree on Apocalypse Now 😉
I actually liked the first Bridget Jones and Notting Hill (runs)
I did, too. And I love Love Actually.
Oh. And Apocalypse Now is an uphill battle, I’m afraid. 🙂
Lol. You don’t have to run away just because you like that (annoying) Bridget Jones! ; ) Notting Hill wasn’t as bad – just really didn’t like Julia Roberts.
Are… You saying you didn’t like this?? ; ) lol. I thought it less rubbish than a lot of his films…
Yeah. That would be one way of saying it. 😉
Think I’d like this?
#no
: )
YOU’D LOVE IT!!! It’s full of boobs & killing!
#no
: )
Eeeek! There’s my name! There’s my name! There’s my name! There’s my name! 🙂 Thanks for that, and I’m so glad you are on board with this one too. Sure, the time travel component was pretty manipulative and used extremely willy-nilly, but the message it sent, as you have pointed out, is just beautiful. Believe it or not towards the end with the father-son relationship aspect I was actually tearing up. It was pretty potent stuff. Loved this film.
Lol! Glad you’re happy to see your name here! Your review really was the one to convince me to watch it. : ) I can see now why guys would go for this one. The father/son relationship really did make this film. : )
I thought this might be an ok movie to watch with my wife because it has time travel in it, but we watched the trailer together and said there’s no way she’d ever watch it.
DIVORCE!!! ; )
It’s okay. Not the best film ever. And it really doesn’t have much time travel. : ) But kind of a romantic movie for the “guys”.
Hmm, are there any dinosaurs?
Only the one that eats them all at the end….
SOLD!
I saw Richard Curtis today in a restaurant in Notting Hill. I should have asked the waitress to spit in his food for Love Actually. That film makes me want to claw my eyes out.
Lol! I can understand the hatred for that one. I didn’t completely hate all of it – but some of the characters and stories were just too ridiculous. : )
The one with Liam Neeson makes me cry…but not in a good/sentimental way
Lol! You crack me up. ; ) I found that storyline pretty annoying. And his son’s as well. He was the one with the son, right? I’m forgetting the movie already! Too many characters! There was too much going on. It was a bit of a mess. And I hated Keira Knightley’s character too!
It was the one with the son….where he falls in love with the girl who has the same name as his dead mum….because that’s not creepy at all!
Did she really? Didn’t remember that! Uhhh….. Yeah… WTF, Richard Curtis?? ; )
Hey, I don’t mind if you give me a time-travel movie, just make sure to abide by your own rules. Once you stop doing that, then you’ve just about lost me. Such was the case with this, as charming as it clearly was. Good review.
Thanks. : ) Oh – it completely didn’t follow time travel rules but, yeah – didn’t even seem to follow its own rules. So I tried to ignore that! : )
I skipped this one because it just looked annoying but I might have to rethink. Also I hated Notting Hill. I wanted to fight every character.
It’s hard to say – you might hate this one as well! It’s still like most Curtis films. I just found the characters far less annoying in this one and the father/son relationship really worked.
I do love a good father-son relationship. There might just be a top 10 coming up…
That would be a cool one : )
I liked Notting Hill, but not the biggest fan of Bridget Jones or Love Actually.
Nice solid review T9M, so I’ll add it to my list since it’s about Time travel 🙂
Thanks. : ) Hope you like it more than Hardware! Lol!! I far prefer Hardware to this. But About Time isn’t about time travel. ; )
saw it and liked it (not loved it). Hopefully have my review up shortly. Thanks for the recommendation!
It WAS much better than Hardware 🙂
Sounds like you really liked it but I’m afraid I’ still not sold. Rachel thingywhatsit is so annoying I just want to punch myself in the face. Yes. MY OWN FACE! Nice review, nonetheless.