About Time

In the realm of sap and cheese, Richard Curtis is an undisputed master. His is the sort of British rom-com that plays to everything belly-laugh-ably recognizable, stereotypes ingeniously captured at a slant – in fact he invented that type of British rom-com. About Time has everything you loved about Love, Actually or any of the others. Domhnall Gleeson plays Tim, who at 21 discovers that he can travel through time, specifically through his own life, to re-live and repeat things, most often in an attempt to get them to turn out for the better (which invariably and often hilariously does not happen). Gleeson is brilliant, his comic timing and particular brand of awkwardness perfect for the part and genre, whilst Bill Nighy plays his usual relentlessly louche character in the form of Tim’s father. Rachel McAdams is good as the romantic lead, although sometimes dangerously close to being the token eye-candy, and could easily be spotted in a ?which one of these doesn’t fit in with the rest? game. Whilst being deliciously frivolous and light, About Time does put a point across, about living in the moment and accepting your tiny dissatisfactions as a course of life, without endlessly trying to correct them, living always in the shadow of an alternate, more perfect tense. It does tear at the heart-strings a little, with its moral tale of living presently and its effect on our love and lives. Well worth a visit to the picture-house, whether you’re a cheese-monger or a have a heart of stone.