About Time

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Treated myself to an early gold class screening.

So this is the second time-travel romance Rachel McAdams has done. I must say, I prefer the time traveling mechanics in The Time Travellers Wife but this is a happy Richard Curtis comedy of magical realism, I don't think you're supposed ti think to hard about it.

The film is out to make a very simple point. And it's probably not too hard to work out from the trailer, or even just knowing that it involves time travel. However it makes this simple point over a very long running time but showing you plenty of examples. Really the journey here is an important part of making an impact at the end, the longer you spend with these perfectly amiable characters the more you'll want to see their lives work out for the better I suppose. I just thought the obvious pay-off didn't really warrant all this length.

So it's a perfectly charming and happy film. I was waiting for the inevitable drama to kick in during the 3rd act and it did, right on queue, but even the drama was pretty fluffy and happy. The film well and truly had the audience on the hook by then, they could have done much more but chose to play it safe and keep things pleasant. I think if the struggles were harder the end would have mattered more.

It's a tricky balance. I guess it didn't quite work for me, but hey it's really great, well made light entertainment and maybe you'll think you've learnt something at the end of it.