My review of the movie About Time

Saw the movie About Time.  It was a good movie, and I'd recommend it.

The basic notion is that a kid from a fairly well-off family -- they live in a huge house that's a short walk to the beach, have afternoon tea on the beach every day, and his dad was able to quit work at 50 to spend more time around the house -- and his dad informs him after the son's 21st anniversary that the men of his family have the ability to travel back in time.  But, only through their own timelines.

That means that the rest of his life can be lived as an infinite set of "do-overs".  He spends the rest of the movie exploring the possibilities.

I noticed one logical contradiction -- but only one.  And I won't annoy you with pointing it out:  just enjoy the movie.

It's not my lifetime best-ever-favorite-movie -- but it's a sweet movie with many humorous bits, plus some sad bits, and a reasonably tidy ending.

Oh -- and the woman he falls in love with is written (and played) as someone you could see him falling in love with.  A much nicer person than a the woman he has a crush on elsewhere in the movie.

Some naughty language; some implied sex; no nudity that I recall.


Addendum:  I found a few websites (blog entries?  movie reviews?) that complain that About Time is full of logical errors and breaking the self-stated "rules" about time travel.  I disagree with most of them -- as do the comments under those entries.

Addendum, Oct 6, 2015:  For a while I was watching at least parts of this movie about once a week.  Then I went for a few weeks without watching it.  And then I couldn't figure out where the heck I put the DVD -- which was disappointing.  But today I was in a shop that sells used DVDs, and they had a copy for three bucks.  So I picked it up.  And I'm re-watching it.


So, yeah -- I've added the tag "Favorite movies" to this blog entry.

 

-GG