Isaac Piecuch ’14 | Staff Writer

Time travel is a tricky subject to pull off in cinema. As a classic sci-fi trope, it’s been executed in “Star Trek,” “Looper,” and scores of other movies. In “About Time,” time travel’s inherent wackiness is used as a backdrop for a touching love story that, while flawed, is a satisfying tale of  emotion.

Directed by Richard Curtis famous from “Love Actually” and “Notting Hill,” “About Time” stars Domhnall Gleeson as the films endearingly awkward hero Tim Lake. When Tim turns 21, his father played by the incredible Bill Nighy, shares a shocking secret with him: the men of the Lake family have the ability to travel through time. With no particularly grand aspirations, Tim uses these powers for the most pressing of his problems: love.

Soon after discovering this secret, Tim moves to London, ready to tackle the world. He soon meets the supposed love of his life, Mary played by Rachel McAdams. With the aid of his time travel powers, Tim perfects moments in time and, after ample time-manipulation, wins the heart of Mary. The rest of the movie is made up of the following decade in Tim’s life, and the major events that occur or are avoided because of time-travel.

Gleeson shines in his role as Tim. As the protagonist in an inherently wacky movie, his performance was very important. He nailed it. The perfect amount of awkward, Tim made a great hero and was easy to root for. He was a genuinely sweet person, and his positive attitude and benevolent intentions were well-received.

Rachel McAdams’ character, on the other hand, was grating. Her performance was intentionally awkward, but it felt forced. The script tried too hard to make her into a quirky character, instead of allowing her to be a natural human being.

Weak characters pervade the film,  aside from Tim and his father, played by Nighy, most characters were shallow or one dimensional.Characters, such as Tim’s playwright friend, were one-dimensional and added little to the film. Characters like Mary’s uncouth friend Joanna had no effect on the story and should not have been included.

Furthermore, the movie’s seemingly profound character developments are an illusion. There is very little character growth. For example, Tim is exactly the same man as a 30 year old father as he was at age 20. Sure, he recognizes some important universal truths, but that seems to have little effect on his actual approach to life.

Perhaps worst of all, the film shows little faith in the intelligence of its audience. The second half of the film unravels into a Hallmark-y hodge-podge of emotional situations, and it loses all subtlety. The movie holds its viewers hands, directly stating its themes and ideas. Even the message of the movie is spelled out for the audience in the last few minutes of the film. It’s as if the filmmakers were saying, “In case you missed the point, here it is!”

Still, the movie maintains a genuine sense of sweetness. Tim’s effort to meet McAdams is adorable and warms the heart. But this positive energy is undermined by a fundamental dishonesty to Tim and Mary’s relationship. He never shares the knowledge of his powers with her, so there is a basic dishonesty between the two of them. After all, without abundant use of his powers, there’s no way the two would have ended up together. When examined, this dishonesty feels wrong and manipulative, but this is ignored because of Gleeson’s sincere earnestness and positive intentions. Time travel is never used to harm others, only to fix the problems caused by Tim’s more awkward tendencies.

Watching “About Time” is like eating a box of candy; it feels sweet and light going in, but leaves you feeling shallow and a bit sick. You might enjoy watching this movie, but at the end of the day, you’ll leave the theater without having gained much. I wouldn’t necessarily travel back in time to stop myself from watching this movie; after all, as the film is sure to tell us, it’s best to live every day to the fullest, using the time we have to enjoy the world around us. I just wish “About Time” had given me a bit more to enjoy.

Grade: C+.