Good, but felt a little let down

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2013)

I'm a guy who really loves Love Actually. As such, I had high expectations for this film. This is a good film, but I'm not sure it quite crosses the threshold for greatness.
Love Actually did a great job of showing different kinds of love--platonic, familial, romantic. About Time also does this well, with a particular focus on family bonds. Tim's relationship with his dad is the most well-developed in the movie, and it's fantastic to watch. I was even close to tears a few times.
My one issue, though, is that Mary, the love of Tim's life, is underdeveloped as a character. The movie spends a lot of time telling us how much he loves her, and doesn't really spend much time telling us *why* he loves her--she's pretty much just a stock, cutesy Rachel McAdams character, without any expressed goals, ambitions, or quirks. We don't have this problem with the other characters--their development is fairly proportional to their importance to Tim. And so, one of the major plot lines falls a bit flat.
Ultimately, though, this was still worth seeing. The father-son story makes the movie by itself, and there's more to the story than just those to. I just wish it had balanced those bits with the romantic element better.