Great idea, poor execution

Rating: 4/10 (27 December 2011)

This movie deals with something we all want in our daily lives: more time. People bet minutes, hours, and even years of their lives in the same manner in which we wager various amounts of money. The premise is very unique, but the execution is terrible.
Young Hollywood has a lot of talent, but they are all miscast in this film. Timberlake is quite good in his portrayal: street/poor kid suddenly faced with wealth/time. The rest of the cast though looks like children playing dress-up. The actors in the film have no sophistication or polish. The film looks thrown together as if it were finished as quickly as possible. There is simply no star power to be found.
From scene change to scene change, I could not have cared less what was happening. A good film could be made with a young cast, but this is not one of them. Think of a modern classic with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, and then recast it with the likes of Zac Efron and Hilary Duff. There is simply no compelling reason to continue watching or caring. One of the pivotal plot points of this movie is the pursuit of youth, but the reasoning behind it feels weak. If you want to bored, then you should watch this film. Ask yourself afterward how it could have been fixed, if only the production company had more........time.