About Time

About Time is a nice movie, but we’ve seen it all before. And if you’re satisfied with your life, realizing that every seemingly bad decision will eventually take you to some greater happiness, it doesn’t have much to say to you. (11/22/2013)

If it followed the premise of a sci-fi rom-com where the protagonist goes back in time again and again to “get her” throughout, as it looks in the first half hour, About Time would have been a lot more fun. But in the end it’s a little monotonous and an incredibly non-conflicting fairy-tale that doesn’t want to be anything other than pleasant. It’s not my cup of tea, but I can’t deny its feel-good charm. (01/05/2014)

Objectively speaking, I could raise about a dozen objections against the film, meaning I could give it an average review, but what can you do? It's one of those films where you don't care about logical lapses and plot contrivances because you are enticed by the dialogue tapped from life and by the romantic storyline polished to perfection without flaw or blemish. After that, you're just left jumping for joy at personal highlights like a woman's choice of dress, and when it comes to the black-clad funeral procession, you raise your glasses to wipe away a tear without feeling bad about it; Richard Curtis creates experiences. (11/25/2013)

I already got used to Richard Curtis making great movies with a positive vibe, containing a lot of thoughts worth fighting for. A lot of people recommended About Time to me, and since I like Rachel McAdams, I planned to see the movie for quite some time. And I can tell you, for a long time I did not feel such joy to be alive that I felt after watching this film. (06/21/2014)

After it was over, I had an irresistible urge to run to a dark place, clench my fists, go back in time before the screening and enjoy it again. Which, given that I found it unnecessarily long and not very coherent, is, I think, in itself the most telling. (11/04/2013)

A decent and original rom-com about time travel, which definitely makes the film interesting. Rachel McAdams doesn't play her typical hot chick role this time, she's dressed up to fit the main character. I was kind of hoping she would abuse her ability to go back in time more times and better, but it worked. Definitely above average within the genre. Well acted, nicely filmed with a few surprises and a sadder ending. 7/10. (01/24/2022)

I already felt sorry for Richard Curtis before the premiere in one aspect. He simply couldn't live up to the expectations of fans who wanted something like a time-traveling Love Actually, no matter how hard he tried. That's why the path he took is so surprising – a path preceded by no such futile attempt. Not that it is devoid of romance, because the band in the subway or the stormy ceremony almost left me speechless with their power. But there's something more here. Those obligatory family values that turn into golden words and private emotional weight. It is in their strength that something makes About Time a film that you almost cannot put a price on. It has a somewhat unnecessarily piercing sci-fi aspect, a perfectly dialogued romantic storyline as expected, and plenty of friendly humor. And then comes the last act, and Bill Nighy becomes a person from my life, someone I can't return to with any wardrobe, and everything is somewhere else again, beyond the boundaries of the five-star scale. And exactly there, at the very end, it is best to see where Curtis has arrived. To a place where everything is not there in service to romance, but where romance serves an even more personal and timeless transcendence. It is hard to say what all the director managed to express here. But if this is truly his last directing endeavor, he can walk away from the chair with his head held high, because he (again) leaves at the scene of the crime something without comparison. (11/04/2013)

The beauties of life over and over. Pleasant to watch, unobtrusive in itself and terribly down to earth. Rachel McAdams is cute, Gleeson nice and absentminded. But it’s Bill Nighy who steals the movie whenever he makes an appearance and that’s really nice. (01/27/2016)

An incredibly cool action-packed movie with a plethora of finely crafted dialogues, excellent timing of scenes, love that never gets mundane, and appropriate life paths for every situation. That alone is somewhat like science fiction, and time travel doesn't even have to be involved. But (not only) Rachel McAdams is simply incredible. It is impossible to resist. (08/18/2014)

I didn't find the idea of time travel very well and logically used (The Time Traveler's Wife played with it better, if I have to compare it within the romantic genre) and it was too long, so I couldn't escape boredom by the end. So the third film directed by Richard Curtis is, from my point of view, "just" a pleasant spectacle with likeable actors and one great actor (Bill Nighy, of course), with a nice soundtrack and some really funny scenes. (01/19/2015)

I’m aware that there are many, many films that are better in form and more important for the development of the medium, but I don't give a damn about them. About Time is a story about perceiving and experiencing the world around you that gives you wings and energy to get up again tomorrow and enjoy every (un-)ordinary minute. A story that completely absorbed me for two hours and showed me new dimensions that feelings associated with words such as love, happiness or friendship can take. A work of art with the most beautiful and beautifully conveyed message. Gleeson is the most likeable movie romantic, Rachel is the most amazing and wonderful romantic's dream, and Richard Curtis is a man I admire and respect indescribably. This is one of those films that can replace true love for me. Objectively, I could criticise it for a few logical inconsistencies and the lack of a supporting conflict in the second half, but subjectively it is perhaps my favourite and most emotionally influential cinematic experience along with Shawshank – and I prefer those emotions and impressions any day. (01/05/2014)

What at first appeared to be a not particularly breezy, but thanks to the constant hinting that Rachel McAdams might show mammary glands, watchable romance in a genetically engineered Britain where there are hardly any minorities and one doesn't care about the ugly chick (whereas I would have assumed Curtis would have at some point been to England) degenerates into something unreal in the last third. I know that this sphere probably pays for cinema tickets, but the horrible final ode to the petty joys of the middle class of absolutely uninteresting people with whom I understand the viewer is supposed to identify somehow to embody an answer to the question of what a new mother’s discussion forum election spot would look like if Andrej Babiš were still trying to get publicity through it. And it would have been filmed by Renč. (02/11/2014)

Richard Curtis has a truly distinctive style, but this time it wasn't all that fun with him. I wish I could give five stars to a film starring my favorite Bill Nighy, but although the filmmakers managed to create a pleasantly relaxing atmosphere. The romantic and touching moments far outbalanced the funny ones, verging on pathos at times, which was a disappointment. What I think the film needed was a quicker pace and a good dose of English humor. I would have added a star or two in that case. (04/17/2018)

Well, lately anything touches me, but I can't help it, I really liked this movie. I thought it would be just a regular romance, but I suspected Richard Curtis could put a little more into it. And he did. It's not the film that the trailer promises, it's a different, better film. Richard Curtis once again shows how beautiful life is for him and how beautiful it should be for us. And love in all its forms belongs to it. (03/23/2014)

Anyone who tries to apply any fantasy templates or supposed precepts of what fantasy should look like to this film will be sorely disappointed. I can't help feeling that Richard Curtis is taking a bit of a "life review" through his directorial debut About Time (although he was a "mere" 57 years old at the time of the premiere, but then again, take the likes of Eastwood or Scott...); on the other hand, his narrative is once again very evocative and sensitive (it should be noted that at times humorous, but compared to The Boat That Rocked and Love Actually, here there is humor like saffron). The whole time travel thing here serves mainly as a metaphor for interpersonal relationships and gives you a chance, at least for a moment, to see and fix things as you really would want to have done them at that moment (if you’d had the courage and strength). A very worthy end to Richard Curtis’ directorial mission. (12/17/2017)