Film Review: About Time

Well it’s about time Rachel McAdams broke out of her typecast and starred in a romantic comedy. It’s been a whole two movies since “The Vow” disappointed audiences everywhere. However, her latest project “About Time” looked promising. From the writer of “Notting Hill,” “Love Actually,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and so many more, I was expecting a home run—especially with the hilarious Bill Nighy serving as a supporting player. Unfortunately, the movie was great until about halfway through. It may have had something to do with the baby—babies ruin everything—or the cancer. But somewhere around the climax, everything slowed down.

“About Time” focuses on the love life of Bill Weasley, excuse me, Tim, played by Bill Weasley, I mean Domhnall Gleeson. Anyway, Tim, his father (Nighy), and his father before him all can travel through time. They need only find a dark place, focus on a memory, squeeze their fists and lo and behold they’re there. The first half stays true to the film’s genre: Rachel McAdams brings the “rom” and the writer’s amazing grasp of quirky British humor provides the “com.” The audience goes on a fun-flirty roller coaster ride of love, but right as we’re about to hit that third loop-de-loop, the ride loses power and we're all stuck upside down with our arms dangling.

Suddenly, the main relationship is very secure and the focus shifts to the father-son relationship. There’s nothing wrong with Bill Nighy getting extended screen time, but this is where the sap kicks into high gear. I shed some tears, which I’m more than happy to do in Rachel McAdams’ movies (i.e. “The Notebook”), but I expect to be crying over the tumultuous love affair. I’m even happy to cry if the love interest is dying of cancer (i.e. “A Walk to Remember”). But if every tear is spilt over daddy dearest, I feel that the rom-com has gone amiss. It wasn’t that this part of the movie was bad, it just got to the point where it was about time it ended. Nothing new was happening. It was like the writer decided he had a message. It was something like “time is precious.” Well, he gave us the movie we all wanted for an hour and then he’s like, now to the point.

To reiterate, this is not a bad movie. This is a good movie. It’s just not as good as you want it to be. It’s not Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts or Hugh Grant and Renee Zellweger or Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell. Hmm…maybe the problem is that we’re missing Hugh Grant. “About Time” wraps up the romance a little too quickly, forcing the film to substitute Nighy for McAdams, making for one weird long rom-com.