A bland, ordinary, 'nice' movie......

Rating: 3/10 (10 June 2016)

This review is not intended for people intending to watch this movie who do not want to know some of the 'tricks' or plot twists that it includes. Instead, it is intended to provoke thought and consideration amongst those of us who like to watch a film with a critical eye, and think about it afterwards. I cannot believe the number of comments on this site along the lines of this film being 'wonderful/amazing/the best film ever'; I can only conclude that these remarks were made by people with limited experience of movies and / or who are very easily impressed. I only hope that watchers of the film from overseas do not think that the actions of the characters in this movie represent 'typical' British behaviour, or that this film represents the standards of 'typical' British movie making.
My first problem with this film concerns the way that the script appears to have been constructed by Richard Curtis. I was tempted at times to shout out, "You're making it up as you go along!" in response to some of the twists in the plot, such as when Tim discovers that there were limits as to how far he could go back in time without changing the gender of his children. Why did his father simply not go back, once again, to when Tim was 21 and comprehensively instruct him in the rules of time travel? Furthermore, the characters are all stock caricatures, who seem to have been chosen from other movies and then checked, probably by a committee of Jocastas and Jeremys, to be 'politically correct' and inoffensive. For example, the playwright that Tim stays with is Mr. Sweary, but lovely beneath the surface, Tim's uncle is corpulent and forgetful, but lovely beneath the surface and his work colleagues are sexist and incompetent, but lovely beneath the surface (have you spotted the common thread yet??) My next 'gripe' concerns the whole idea of using time travel as a movie theme, as it is hardly original - there are so many time travel-based movies that Rachel McAdams herself has been in at least one! The only point in taking on this theme, which flies against one of the fundamental laws of the Universe, namely the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is if it says something new and interesting. As this film contributes less than two of the classics in this genre from the last century, namely 'Groundhog Day' and 'Back to the Future', and is less able to deal with the contradictions that arise than these films were, merely highlights its inadequacies.
Tim, who is yet another caricature, being a geeky 'ginger' (but, naturally, lovely beneath the surface!), makes poor use of the power that his ability to travel in time brings to him. Instead of either using it to make lots of money (for example by visiting a casino or bookmakers), which he could use to help those around him, or to prevent fatalities or solve crimes, he merely uses his abilities to improve his chat-up lines. Selfishly, when he gets the opportunity to prevent his sister from being involved in a serious car accident, he decides not to take it, as it results in his child being born a boy instead of a girl (no, this is not adequately explained either!) Also, if travelling back in time is so simple for Tim that he can achieve it simply by going into a cupboard or small room, closing his eyes and clenching his fists, why had it not happened accidentally to him prior to his 21st birthday? Did he never close his eyes and clench his fists as a teenager? Furthermore, how is it that he is able to 'carry' his sister with him on one occasion - surely she can either travel or time, on her own, or not? I would have been interested to know what the director's instructions to Rachel McAdams were at the start of filming, when she asked him what he wanted from her - presumably 'Look pretty and say your lines, dear', as she delivers little else. If a performance in a movie can be likened to a race she barely does more than jog throughout. Similarly, Domnhall Gleeson was presumably told that he had to show one of two facial expressions, namely either a look of surprise or a look of pretended surprise.
Overall, therefore, this is a silly, bland, unoriginal little film about silly, bland, inoffensive caricatures living their silly, bland, nice lives......