Deeply moving film with a message

Rating: 10/10 (26 October 2013)

When I went into this movie, all I knew was that it has Rachel McAdams, Brendan Gleeson's son (who I knew from Harry Potter and Six Shooter) and time travel. As I'm usually not the greatest sci-fi fan, my expectations weren't too high I guess. When I left the theater 120 minutes later I was wowed by what I just witnessed. I really liked the way they split this film basically into two halves. The first is mostly romantic comedy. The main premise is initially rather odd as the lead character finds out from his dad that he has the ability to travel in time. And so he does for a while to correct certain mishaps that happened to him, mostly love-related ones and here and there also a favor to a friend. I won't go into detail what he decided to relive particularly, but it was all quite entertaining and never really dragged. How he needs to run away to make it happen, was always one of my favorite parts. McAdams is always nice to watch and she gives a solid performance here too. I read Zooey Deschanel was also an option for the part and I don't really like her, so I'm actually glad they went with McAdams, who has unusually dark hair here. There is also one particularly sweet sequence when he finally has a chance to get with the woman of his dreams and realizes she's not the one he wants, but McAdams' character is. Up to halfway into the film I'd maybe rate it a 7/10.
The second half, however, is where the film really delivers. The two are an item at this point, so there's more dramatic focus now, first on how their baby has changed (a very moving scene, especially when he sees the right one shortly afterward again) through time travel and then for quite a while on the relationship between the central character and his dad (excellently portrayed by Bill Nighy). Also more scenes on the main character's sister's crumbling life get included and how time travel can't solve these issues for her. Admittedly, these come short quality-wise compared to Nighy's, but only because Nighy nails his role so much. The relationship between him and his son is just so wonderful to watch, the table tennis (with letting the other win), the walk at the beach and the final meeting which is inevitably the last as Gleeson's character is about to become a dad once more. Eye-wetting stuff and I cried quite a bit for the last 45 minutes.
As I wrote earlier, I'm really not that big on the sci-fi genre in general, but it always seems to deliver for me when it's just a sub-plot/genre to the exploration of interpersonal relationships just like here or in "Never Let Me Go", another film I totally adore. "About Time" is a feel-good movie with serious undertone and some truly emotional highs. Also it teaches us to live every day in a way we would not want to relive it, even if we had the chance, because it was just so wonderful the first time. And we paid attention to all the beautiful details and made the most of it and wouldn't want to lose that day as we could hardly relive it in an equally great manner again because we made every minute count. The director, Richard Curtis, is also responsible for the beloved Mr. Bean and "Love, actually..." and I'm okay with both, but neither impressed me as much as this one here. To me, it's his masterpiece and finest work to date. It's a perfect example of how a smart story with lots of heart is more important than challenging characters or super-great performances, who couldn't even save the worst script. It is my second-favorite film of 2013 right now (behind "Sein letztes Rennen") and I very much recommend it and hope you'll have an equally great time watching this gem of a movie. Thank you for reading my review. I hope you enjoyed it and don't want to go into the nearest closet to go 10 minutes back in time and "unread" it.