MOVIE REVIEW - About Time

Sometimes too much of a good thing is not a good thing.  And that is the main trouble with the new romantic comedy/drama, About Time.

This is the story of Tim, a young 20 something guy in England and his wonderful family.  On his 21st birthday he is told from his father (Bill Nighy) that the men in his family are capable of "time travel."   This heavily guarded secret is basically an easy thing to to.  Go to a dark room, clench your firsts, and think about the place you would like to go only in the past, and off you go.  Tim wants to use his gift for love.  Tim is insanely awkward and his luck with girls is not good. So he tries to find a girlfriend, and having the advantage to doing something over and over again till he gets is right.  Sort of like Groundhog Day.  

Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) meets Mary (Rachel McAdams), and they fall in love and start a family.  Sure I fast forwarded a bit, but hey we can time travel here.  This is basically the story of these two going through the first few years of dating and of their marriage and the characters in their lives. With Tim's time travel all at the center, although, Mary does not know.  Is time travel an unfair advantage?  Or is is a unneeded extravagance? 

There is no question a ton of charm in this movie, and there are some creative and priceless moments that are amazingly heartwarming and fun to watch.  The trouble is, this movie winds off course many times and can't really decide what it really wants to do or say.   There are far too many characters here, and all they do is start to get in the way.  Some of the repeated time travel scenes are agonizingly long and that story line starts to become a liability rather than an asset.  In short, this movie is way too long.  And I mean waaaaaay too long.

This is a really fun premise and a nice cast was assembled here for a wandering movie that without question wears out its welcome.  The charm that is so prevalent in some areas quickly is forgotten, as you begin to wonder if this is ever going to end.  And that's sad.   But on the flip side, this is a movie clearly marketed at an older demo than your average movie goer.  And more than likely they will not have the same criticism of its length.   What this demo may choose to remember is the fun, laughs and the charm of it all.

About Time.  All in all, not a bad movie. But for me this is a fun premise and a good cast not given the best script for this to be a really good movie.