Lemme get this out first: Domhnall Gleeson is the son of Brendan Gleeson. Domhnall played minor character Bill Weasley in the Deathly Hallows set — you know that scene in which there are seven Harrys? The actor who plays Bill Weasley has a real-life father in the room playing Mad Eye Moody, but is acting as the son to another man in the room, Arthur Weasley (Mark Williams). Cool, huh? You may have known that. I didn’t. In About Time, Domnhall plays the son of Bill Nighy, who was also in Deathly Hallows Part I as Rufus Scrimgeour. I’m sure in time we can have Domhnall play son to everybody in the cast of Deathly Hallows I from Severus Snape to Kingsley Shacklebolt. Heck, put him in enough time travel films and we can make sure he’s son to Harry and Ron as well.
You gotta love the English. Just gotta. What other culture could study the phenomena of time travel and come to the conclusion that said manipulation of time is best spent reading. Don’t get me wrong – reading is a wonderful thing – but, I dunno, stopping Hitler? Keeping Lincoln or JFK or MLK, Jr. alive? “Can’t go outside your lifetime,” huh? OK. And sure, I get the drawback in deadly sin indulgence … how about preventing 9/11? So much evil spawned from one terrible and coordinated, but relatively simple, attack. Wouldn’t the world be a much much better place now if 9/11 had not happened? For nearly everyone, really. Bet you could do it with just a phone. OK, I’m American-centric … how about saving the Munich Olympics from ugliness? How about preventing attacks on English soil? No terrorism comes to mind? Nope, gonna stick with the reading. And maybe visiting passed away relatives – ahhhhh, there’s a very worthwhile use of time travel.
Reading is the coup advised by Dad (Nighy) when he tells Tim (Gleeson) what the men in the family can do. Tim doesn’t believe him, of course, until he hides in a closet, clenches his fists, closes his eyes and returns to that New Year’s Eve party where he replaces an awkward handshake celebration with a satisfying smooch. Now we’re getting somewhere. Tim has decided to use this power to pursue women. As Richard Curtis continues to be my favorite creator of Hollywood romance, I like this story-line a lot.
One of the reasons I love writer/director Curtis is he so often flirts with harsh reality among the fantasy. Tim’s first attempt at time travel romance is a complete and utter failure. Lesson learned: even with all the time and resources in the world and the ability to undue every mistake, you still can’t make 
somebody love you who won’t. It’s painful how true that is. And it’s gonna hit home with a lot of broken-hearted boys and girls. Eventually, Tim finds Mary (Rachel McAdams) and hits it off. And then rewrites history to save a playwright at the expense of his meet cute. I loved this moment – Tim sacrifices the best night of his life to save the career of somebody he barely calls “friend.” Ah, Richard Curtis. And getting back in with Mary is awkward; it shouldn’t be clean, should it? The moment, take 1, was perfect untouched.
OK, it’s flat-out weird that Rachel McAdams is the object of affection here just as she was in The Time Traveler’s Wife. Seriously, is there nobody else for this particular role? Are all time travelers (I’m lookin’ at you, too, Owen Wilson) smitten with the head Mean Girl? That’s so sad. And at that rate, why not CGI her into every time travel romance? She could date Marty McFly and both Bill & Ted and The Terminator. Oh yeah, he’ll be back all right.
I can’t say that About Time was anywhere near the most perfect execution of time travel power and the sci-fi analysis is, let’s face it, poor. But the film broke my heart three times all the same and I found myself rooting for a Weasley again, and against my better judgment.
♪It’s hard for me to stop my heart
Love never knows what time it is
I don’t want to hurt anybody
And I can make sure of this
I never felt like this before
Which is why I’m gonna relive today
Let love take its course? Oh no, sir.
I’m gonna make it sway.
Ooooh, we’ve got time
Oh baby
There’s no rush
I can alter
The day for us
Hang on
And I will uplift you
Our love will always change to “good as new”♫
Rated R, 123 Minutes
D: Richard Curtis
W: Richard Curtis
Genre: The progressive field of time-travel romance
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Time travelers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Paradox nuts
♪Parody inspired by “Time and Tide”
