About Time

Name: About Time
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance
Released: November 1, 2013
Duration: 123 min
Rating: 55
Cast: Bill Nighy, Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams

2013

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Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews

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Universal acclaim based on 557 Ratings

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8.5	User Score Universal acclaim based on 557 Ratings

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About Time

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: November 1, 2013 | R

Starring: Bill Nighy, Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams

Summary: At the age of 21, Tim Lake discovers he can travel back in time, but as his unusual life progresses, Tim finds out that his unique gift canâ

Director: Richard Curtis

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 123 min

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Critic Reviews

Kimberley Jones

Oct 31, 2013

The movie moves episodically, leisurely, through roughly a decade, and that feels like a gift: to nestle in with these extraordinary, ordinary people and get to know them. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Oct 30, 2013

Gleeson and McAdams make a touching, lifelike couple, but by the time the movie starts telling us to live each day as if we were going back and doing it all over again, you may feel Curtis has mistaken hokum for wisdom. Read full review

Claudia Puig

Nov 1, 2013

What results is amusing, gently entertaining and might induce a tear or two. Read full review

Chris Cabin

Sep 25, 2013

A surprisingly thoughtful romantic comedy that shirks a great deal of reason and consequence in the name of love. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Nov 1, 2013

There’s a creepy subtext to all this, especially when Tim uses his time-travel gifts to woo an American girl without her assent. Read full review

Peter Travers

Oct 31, 2013

Like a doggie in a window, this romcom relentlessly wags its tail so you'll fall in love and take it home. Not this time, puppy. Read full review

The Playlist Gabe Toro

Sep 24, 2013

About Time, inadvertently, reveals itself to be About Men, and how they devise lies in order to create the illusion that all women supposedly want to see. Read full review

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User Reviews

Kurolap

Jan 23, 2014

Whoever gave this review less than 11/10, is a complete idiot because this is one of the best movies ever created. I laughed, I cried (a lot) and I'm a male....and straight...I only created this account on Metacritic to rate this movie...will also probably rate others. While I'm here,Whoever gave this review less than 11/10, is a complete idiot because this is one of the best movies ever created. I laughed, I cried (a lot) and I'm a male....and straight...I only created this account on Metacritic to rate this movie...will also probably rate others. While I'm here, Inception and Butterfly effect were awesome… Expand

11 of 12 users found this helpful111

cinews

Nov 21, 2013

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A socially awkward guy learns that he has the ability to travel through time, so he does what most of us would do in that circumstance So about time is a feel good romantic comedy about tim this social outcast who never stood out in life bill nighy who plays his father comes to him and tells him that all the males on their family can travel trough time what does he wants not money or fame or glory he just wants him to get a girlfriend which is simple read full review http://cinews.info/in-cinema/About-Time.php… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

NightReviews

Nov 11, 2013

About Time is a charming, utterly tender tale of life, love and the extraordinary of the ordinary. Much like the narrative of the film, Tim travels to the past and back to the present to perfect all the imperfections of his life, yet the film is anything but perfect, and that’s ok. SufferingAbout Time is a charming, utterly tender tale of life, love and the extraordinary of the ordinary. Much like the narrative of the film, Tim travels to the past and back to the present to perfect all the imperfections of his life, yet the film is anything but perfect, and that’s ok. Suffering from inconsistent plot-points to breaking the rules that the film outlines, About Time is surely not a tightly-constricted narrative leap for the genre by any means. Regardless, the film casts an enchanting spell that not only lifts one’s spirit, but causes you to merely forget about the rules Curtis makes, and breaks.

Writer/director Richard Curtis has had quite a bit of luck in the romantic-comedy genre, making major waves penning Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral. Although he has stated that About Time will be his final directorial venture, only behind the aforementioned Love Actually and Pirate Radio, Curtis has succeeded well beyond many of the directors and screenwriters who hoped to successfully recreate anything Nicholas Sparks‘ has made, with the exception of The Notebook, of course. Fresh, spontaneous and demanding emotions, Curtis has brought new light to the British romantic-comedy front and has made the kind of films one isn’t ashamed to laugh and cry at.

Once Tim finally meets Mary (Rachael McAdams), Tim knows he has found the reason to adequately use his time-traveling powers. At first glance, Gleeson and McAdams seem like a poor physical match for a film that at times could be distracting or awkward. Instead, much to the extent and reality in life, the two feed off one another’s unique characteristics splendidly. Tall, pale and with a hint of orange hair, Gleeson‘s unqiue on-screen charm is brashly alluring. McAdams on the other hand, stripped of all glam and instead substituted with a rather rag/tag girl-next door look, reminds us why she is cast in these roles and how easy it is to fall in love with her quirks and all.

McAdams, who is no stranger to the time-traveling love story narrative, venturing in her third quest as the desired love interest, first inThe Time Traveler’s Wife and two years later in Woody Allen’s acclaimed Midnight In Paris, enchants and reminds us just how adorable and likable she really is in these roles. Bringing a believable essence to the role of Mary, McAdams just may cement herself in time as the go-to, romantic-comedy poster girl.

As a love story, About Time succeeds. As a tale of morality, a lesson on making each day your last and as a film about the bond between father and son, the film triumphs. Gleeson and Nighy share some of the most sentimental and heart-wrenching moments of the film that are sure to get your eyeballs sweating with joy. Incandescent as father and son, the two actors shine as the heart and soul of the film.

As the pendulum swings closer to the end of the year, About Time will surely be atop my list of guilty cinematic pleasures of 2013, especially since I am such a sucker for hopeless romantic love stories with an underlining patriarchal theme. About Time may be a highly decorated cautionary tale of the beautiful moments in everyone’s seemingly mundane life and the short time we have to live it, but the film, whether romantically tied or generationally suggestive, is a movie about appreciating the little things. “Some days you want to re-live forever. Some days you want to live once”, and Richard Curtis and company really hammer that notion home with their newest film. Essentially, About Time is really all ABOUT LOVE, and we are alright with that.… Expand

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

Spangle

Apr 15, 2016

I am typically a major hardass. Plotholes bother me a good bit and good writing is a major concern. Sure, About Time's time travel makes no sense to the point that it openly contradicts itself repeatedly. It certainly does that. However, forget all of that About Time is a charmer. It is soI am typically a major hardass. Plotholes bother me a good bit and good writing is a major concern. Sure, About Time's time travel makes no sense to the point that it openly contradicts itself repeatedly. It certainly does that. However, forget all of that About Time is a charmer. It is so adorable, moving, and emotional, I would truly have to be soulless not to be swept up in its beautiful portrayal of life and its perfect imperfections. This film is truly a delight in every definition of the word. Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams have incredible chemistry and are so adorable it truly caused me physical pain. The film made me laugh, cry, and smile, all at the same time for its depictions of love and of loss, especially given the situation of the film. It may be super sentimental and is certainly guilty of squeezing every last tear out of you purposely, but dammit if I would not love to cry while watching this one again. Endlessly watchable and overflowing with unadulterated charm, About Time redefines delightful cinema and makes me willingly blind to its own flaws, just as I should be in life.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

nicholasbert

Jan 16, 2014

Albeit not being incredible, it's a good-intentions film for happy minds and people who don't want to be too involved when watching a film. It's true, everyone would wish to have Tim's gift, and the flaws in the time travel rules explained throughout the film didn't actually bother me atAlbeit not being incredible, it's a good-intentions film for happy minds and people who don't want to be too involved when watching a film. It's true, everyone would wish to have Tim's gift, and the flaws in the time travel rules explained throughout the film didn't actually bother me at all. It's not a film about time travel at all, it's just a romantic comedy where a man has the chance to do things over and over till they're the way he wants them.

Stupefied by the fact that Rachel McAdams would take on a role in "Time Traveller's Wife" and then in "About Time", but whatever works for her. Bill Nighy is spectacular as always. Gleeson is not much but he's supposed to be the average man so that kind of fits.

Rom-com with no dentist required, it's okay. And Uncle Desmond's character is brilliant.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

Nitish

Aug 15, 2014

I am confused, one side i am thinking that how you can so oversimplify the time travel and it's relevance and on the other side i find the basic theme of the movie very beautiful. It's freshness is the biggest attraction as well as the biggest drawback. But still it's a beautiful drama if weI am confused, one side i am thinking that how you can so oversimplify the time travel and it's relevance and on the other side i find the basic theme of the movie very beautiful. It's freshness is the biggest attraction as well as the biggest drawback. But still it's a beautiful drama if we just ignore our normal mindset towards time travel.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Cabry

Jan 9, 2015

The time traveling is not explained well. The father and son appear to never have disagreed about anything ever. There is maybe 20 mins of conflict in this 2 hour film. It is essentially about a Hugh Grant knockoff playing puppet master with other people's lives and we are suppose toThe time traveling is not explained well. The father and son appear to never have disagreed about anything ever. There is maybe 20 mins of conflict in this 2 hour film. It is essentially about a Hugh Grant knockoff playing puppet master with other people's lives and we are suppose to accept this as a good thing--that others might prefer how the events played out initially. Of course he doesn't tell his wife anything. Rachel McAdams plays a woman whose sole purpose in the film is to adore the male lead and have her life manipulated unknowingly by him under the illusion that he always make the right decisions for the both of them. There are also montages. Lots and lots and lots of montages.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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86	#86 Most Discussed Movie of 2013
41	#41 Most Shared Movie of 2013