About Time (2013, Dir. Richard Curtis)

About Time is a new romantic movie from the director of Love Actually and one of my favorite romantic comedies, Bridget Jones’s Diary. I am not partial to Time Travel plot lines so when I heard this twist on the romantic genre, I thought “there is no way I am seeing that movie!”. Well, I did end up seeing it with my mother on my vacation back to Michigan. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

About Time is not a science fiction film though it does involve time travel. The time travel is a fantastical plot point, in no means grounded in science, but throughout the movie it maintains a consistent logic, which I appreciate. Time Travel plots are generally about how we altered the original timeline and how we need to put things back in order or else threaten to destroy the space time continuum as we know it. But About Time is about love- finding love and being with the one you love.

Our main character, Tim, discovers at the age of 21 that he can travel back in time. In fact, all the men in his family can. His father tells him to use this power to make his life exactly how he wants it to be. For example, his father has read every book he ever wanted to read, sometimes even two or three times. Tim decides to use this special power for love. He tries it out with a summer romance that never comes to fruition, no matter how many times he goes back and does what she says. She is not the one for him, and time travel cannot change that.

When he does meet Mary, they connect, but he does have to travel back in time a few times to get her to see him more. They fall in love and as the movie goes on, Tim decides not to go back in time as often.

The movie has a very beautiful lesson that did impact the way I looked at my days after it. His father told Tim that the secret to happiness is to live on day in its entirety with all the stresses and uncertainty but to then go back and relive that day appreciating all the absurdities, noticing the details, and having more fun since he would already know what was going to happen. Tim does this for a while and this helps him learn how to live one day at a time in the moment, without having to go back. And this is how he lives his extraordinary, ordinary life.

It was beautiful. It did change how I saw my time at home in Michigan. I stopped longing to return to my love, Los Angeles, and really appreciated even the most annoying things, like my mother taking pictures of me. I was able to appreciate her passion for photography when normally I would run away screaming. Having my picture taken so much can drive me crazy! But I loved spending the time with my mother and I am glad we were able to see this movie together.

This movie is a beautiful reminder about the joys of life, and I am glad to have heard from others that this movie is something people of all ages and genders can appreciate. The movie has gotten very good reviews, and I can say, it deserves them.