Cheesy formulaic pulp

Rating: 1/10 (29 January 2014)

The premise of the film - every male member of a nauseatingly happy family has the ability to go back in time... by going into a wardrobe, thinking of the time they want to go back to and... clenching their fists.
This requires a suspension of belief of course as physics tells us this is rather silly.
Our narrator and central character is told this by the man who claims to be his father. I say "claims" because Tim is ginger haired and no-one else in his family is. This is never explored in the film.
The restrictions of the time travelling are explained by his father to let us all know the parameters of the film/plot. He can't go further back than his own birth and he shouldn't go chasing after money because his uncle Fred did and it didn't make him happy.
There is no philosophical discussion about possibly intervening to prevent disasters such as 9/11 or warn people of coming Tsunamis.
Our Tim decides he will use his magic power to find love.
What follows is the usual formulaic clap-trap found in most other films Richard Curtis has been involved in, such as Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
It is set in Britain - a Britain aimed at an American audience where everyone has a nice clear and quaint accent, is a tiny bit eccentric and drinks tea.
He falls for, surprise, surprise, an American girl. They have the most vomit inducing, perfect happy little relationship anyone has ever had. The second hour of the film is just pure tediousness. They never row, get sick or have money troubles. Our Tim does not use his power to sleep with lots of girls and go back and then not do.
There is a mysterious uncle who has a touch of Alzheimer's. We perhaps expect this to be a sub-plot and his condition has been caused by going back in time too much. This is never delved into though and he just seems to be there for humour.
Perhaps the most ridiculous aspect of the film is failure to fully explore the consequences of going back in time would have. For example he goes back together with his father to when he was a boy. By doing so he would have condemned himself to have to follow the exact same course of his life as he had previously, knowing for the next twenty years every single event that would happen both to him and in the world. It is not explained how, for example, he dealt with being a child whilst having the memories of having had intimate relationships with women. We just see him strolling along the beach with his dad and are left to believe that somehow his life followed the same pattern as before.
Groundhog day this ain't. One to give a miss.