About Time

Richard Curtis is the writer and director of 2 other movies including one of the best RomComs of all time – LOVE ACTUALLY. Richard Curtis has also written FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, NOTTING HILL AND THE MR. BEAN SERIES.  Quite a stark difference between 2 genres of cinema / series right? But About Time is right where Richard Curtis is great at.  RomComs.

And this time around, he chooses to add in a bit of  time travel.  Tim (Domnhall Gleeson) stays out in the country with his parents (Bill Nighy, Linsday Duncan) and sister Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson).  The most exciting part of his life is usually a New Year’s Eve party.  Even that hasn’t really qualified for the “exciting” benchmark. Not so much for Kit Kat who is a free spirit.

Things are about to change on Tim’s 21^st birthday when his father (Nighy) tells him that all the men in his family develop a peculiar strength.  Time Travel.  Only restricted to the men in the family.  Only when they turn 21.  And nothing that allows them to change the course of history.  It only allows them to impact their own lives.  All they have to do is get into a private space and think of where they want to be.

Tim goes off to London to become a lawyer and meets Mary (Rachel McAdams) at the Café Noir – a novel concept where you dine in the dark and cannot see who you are dining with.  When he does see Mary later that night, it is as good as love at first sight but then thanks to time travel, a comedy of errors ensues.

Like most of his previous movies, Richard Curtis continues to bank on a simple story with several “meet cutes” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_cute).  And the time travel aspect ensures that there are actually several of them between the same 2 people – Tim & Mary.  Enough to get a smile on your face more often than not.

The typical Richard Curtis brand of British humour will also ensure some laughs along the way.  Bill Nighy is superb as always.  A presence that automatically ensures comic relief – sometimes even without dialogue.  Most of the cast offers solid support to the lead pair that more often than not do very well.

Domnhall Gleeson has been called out as a natural inheritor to Curtis land by the telegraph.  I thought that was stretching it too far.  If anything, he gets a boyish charm that’s more real and believable than Hugh Grant could get.  Ditto for Rachel McAdams who is probably first choice for most RomComs these days.  About time is a good watch for this weekend.  7 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3070600729/?ref_=tt_ov_vi