A Simple Film That Touches On Many Emotional Themes

Rating: 8/10 (9 June 2019)

Despite being a huge fan of time-travel films, I let this one languish in my proverbial "unwatched pile" for quite some time. It looked a bit Nicholas Sparks-ian for me, if you catch my drift. Upon a recommendation, however, I finally decided to give it a try. While not necessarily a perfect film, it was a very enjoyable one that ran the gamut of my emotions the entire way.
For a basic plot summary, this film tells the story of Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), who shortly after his 21st birthday is told by his Dad (Bill Nighy) that all the men in the family have a special skill: the ability to travel backwards in time. Initially skeptical, Tim soon discovers this to be the truth. After a serendipitous encounter with Mary (Rachel McAdams), who later becomes his wife and mother of his children, Tim lives his life using that time travel power both for good and for ill.
So many time-travel films get caught up by either trying to explain the ins and outs of the process (a fool's errand), or having the entire movie centered upon that one point. In "About Time", a different approach is taken, and one that comes off as refreshing. See, "About Time" really isn't a "time travel movie" at all. It is a pretty traditional love story, in all honest, only using the "hook" of time travel to build its basic structure.
That is truly where the strength of the picture lies: the simple character moments that all good romance films possess. The chemistry between Gleeson and McAdams is special, and just the entire universe they are living in is very relatable. These are character types and situations that almost anyone can relate to, with of course that pesky little time travel detail cropping up and either all the right or wrong times.
My only complaint about this movie? I believe that slightly better direction might have produced a bit more coherent of an ending. Though I saw exactly what it was going for in terms of theme, it feels very abrupt and not necessarily "earned". Not bad, just more a sense of "I wish these specific themes would have been touched on more throughout the film".
Overall, though, perhaps the greatest compliment I can give "About Time" is how many different audiences it could appeal too. Adolescents or the elderly, men or women, film novices or seasoned cinephiles, there are so many potential audiences for the movie because it touches on so many different themes. In the end, it is a wonderfully unique combination of science fiction, romance, and human drama.