ABOUT TIME – The Perfect Mix of Sci-Fi, Romance And Comedy!

Science fiction, romance and comedy are not usually genres that one would associate together, especially if it is British (it’s what you would expect to see from Hollywood). That was my thought up until I saw ‘About Time‘ when I was incredibly surprised at how well such different genres could work together.
 

Soon to hit screens in the UK, ‘About Time‘ is a British science fiction romantic comedy from director Richard Curtis (‘Love Actually‘, ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral‘, ‘Notting Hill‘). The story revolves around Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), a hopeless romantic with a strange family, who is told by his father that the men in their family can travel back in time by clenching their fists out of sight of everyone else and imagining the time and place that they wish to go back to. After overcoming his skepticism, Tim runs into a cupboard to try it out, where to his surprise he returns to the night of his family’s unsatisfactory New Year’s Eve party where he makes a few altercations in his behaviour to improve the night for other people. On a night out with his geeky best friend Jay, to a blind people’s night club, Tim meets the love of his life Mary (Rachel McAdams), who later becomes his wife and mother to his children. As the film progresses, Tim realises that although he is able to revisit the past, there are many special times in his life that he does not want to go back to but instead lives it while it happens.
 

 
Not normally a fan of romantic movies, especially the same old British romantic comedies, I went to watch ‘About Time‘ with low expectations. To my surprise it was not long, minutes even, until I found myself laughing and becoming enticed by the story and the reluctance towards the idea of time travel soon vanished.

Although I really enjoyed ‘About Time‘, there were times while watching when I felt like I was waiting for something to happen, as the film seemed to have a continuous tone throughout. This feeling faded slightly because of the turn in events, which created little more excitement. ‘About Time‘ is more than just a romantic love story which, by the end of it, really makes you think about making each day count because you will never get it back.
 

The casting director for ‘About Time‘ deserves lots of praise. For starters, Domhnall Gleeson plays a hopeless geeky romantic extremely well, who is also a very likeable main character. His dysfunctional family, played by Bill Nighy, Richard Cordery, Lindsay Duncan and Lydia Wilson, work incredibly well on-screen together and portray a strange family so realistically, that you feel like you could meet them in real life and they would be exactly the same. Rachel McAdams is a brilliant star to the film as Tim’s love, Mary.

‘About Time‘ may likely be Richard Curtis last film as director, but has a different feel to it than any of his previous other films. For anyone who enjoys a comedic romantic movie, this is definitely worth a watch!

‘About Time‘ is in UK cinemas September 4th 2013 and US cinemas 1st November 2013.