About Time

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. (04/11/2013)

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. (24/01/2022)

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. (05/01/2014)

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. (18/08/2014)

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. (19/01/2015)