Oh Dear - can I go back and see something else instead?

Rating: 4/10 (19 August 2013)

I'll start this review by saying that I liked Blackadder, Four Weddings and A Funeral, Notting Hill and even Love Actually. So I knew what I was likely to get with a Richard Curtis film.
The first part of About Time, when Tim The Protagonist (Tim, it's a bit like Tim, innit?) was with his family, discovering what he can do with time travel was actually really quite good. A bit "Richard Curtis By Numbers", right down to the ditsy "flower child" sister, but fun nonetheless. The scene where Tim's Dad (who also has the same powers) describes how this works is actually one of the better scenes in the movie.
Then Tim moves to London where he becomes a lawyer. Lots of fun could be had with time travel and studying for exams, but somehow we don't have that - Tim becomes qualified enough to be in court, in wig and gown, in what appears to be a serious fraud trial, somehow without any work actually taking place. But that's nit-picking for a rom com. Another fun side character is introduced in the Grumpy Playwright - who, character-wise, bears a remarkable resemblance to Acting Banker from Notting Hill.
Then we are treated to an overlong "getting to know you" scene which takes place in an "In The Dark" restaurant - which means we the audience are left looking at a black screen with voice- over for what feels like forever. I am sure this is meant to be enchanting and touching, but actually I found it dull and boring, and the "oh yay you're not ugly" scene immediately afterwards just feels forced.
More jumping around time high-jinks, coupled with an over-long montage showing Tim and Mary falling in love, moving in together and so on, with a bad busking band playing in the background. It was difficult not to compare it to the passing-of-time montage in Notting Hill, which was much more effective - this just dragged on and the music was headache-inducing. During this sequence we also have a ridiculous strip tease from Mary - who declares that she will take off her clothing for Tim if he makes decisions about their upcoming wedding. It felt particularly gratuitous and completely unnecessary - it didn't even work as a comedy moment.
Tim and Mary have a child and it's all lovely...
Then the ditsy sister - who is very reminiscent of Scarlett from Four Weddings - ends up in trouble. Yay for Tim and his magic powers...but he discovers that by going back to the past to save his sister, he loses his daughter - who has magically become a son. A quick check with Tim's Dad and Tim learns a Very Important Lesson - if you travel back past the birth of your children, then the children can change.
So Tim jumps forward, changing his new son back to his old daughter, and leaving Ditsy Sister to her fate, although luckily it seems that a lifetime of domestic abuse can all be rectified if Mary stares at you very hard. Another child, and then the requisite death - Tim's Dad has cancer and Tim gets to discover that magic time travel skills don't save you from cancer - or maudlin Nick Cave songs being played at your funeral.
Mary decides to have a third child - and Tim decides to go back in time to see Dad again before Child Number 3 is born - he knows he can't go back after this without risking changing the new child. When he sees his dad, it's quite a touching scene - which Dad then ruins by trampling all over the Very Important Lesson - Tim and Dad go right back to when Tim himself was a child.
This is perhaps the most annoying aspect of the film - not that I was expecting any kind of sensible plot but at least Curtis could have stuck to his own time travel rules.
The film felt overlong - and entirely as if it was written for Hugh Grant. The tone and mannerisms and character of Tim were very similar to the characters Grant has played for Curtis - but of course, Grant is far too old now for this role. Everything felt like a pale imitation of other, better Curtis movies.
I genuinely can't recommend this film at all - a terrible shame.