'About Time' (12A)

*****

Before we begin, I should make it clear that I do not do rom-coms; I don’t enjoy all that slushy ‘love at first sight’ stuff and I find most comedy extremely grating – give me a war film with lots of death and destruction any day! So when I found myself laughing and weeping in equal measure at Richard Curtis’ latest film I was rather surprised.

Shortly after turning 21, Tim is called into his father’s office to be told that the men in his family have the ability to time travel (only backwards, and in his own time line). From then on, Tim decides that he will do whatever he can to obtain a girlfriend and meets Mary shortly after moving to London. What follows are a series of escapades involving the two young lovers, with a bit of time travel thrown in. However, this supernatural gift cannot solve everything and soon Tim must come face to face with the inevitable facts of life.

The first thing to say is that Domhnall Gleeson (Tim) and Bill Nighy (his dad) are an absolute joy to watch. Gleeson has such a lovely, engaging face that I ended up falling a little bit in love with him myself, and who doesn’t love Bill Nighy, which is strange hand gestures and knowing looks. As a father and son team, they are outstanding – their relationship is entirely believable and was the cause of much weeping in the cinema. Rachel McAdams is the American love interest (it wouldn’t be a Curtis film without one!) and the chemistry between she and Gleeson is delightful, developing well as their relationship progresses from first date to third child and beyond. Tom Hollander is scene-stealing as Harry, the playwright who Tim lodges with when he first moves into London.

There are laughs a-plenty, from disastrous first date sex (handily made better with a little time travel), to a lucky escape with the marriage proposal and a wedding on the wettest day of the year. The film is also tinged with a bittersweet tone, however – Tim’s ability to time travel cannot make everything perfect and his attempts to make one aspect better have consequences in other aspects of his life. There are definite tear-jerker moments in which Bill Nighy explains how he uses his gift and some parts where I felt as though I were crying with happiness. Yep, I haven’t cried this much at a film since ‘War Horse’.

Everything about this film is lovely and charming. It doesn’t matter that only the hospitable parts of London are on display, or that Mary and Tim never fight, or that Tim’s parents own a massive house on the beach in Cornwall without appearing to work, or that the solution to his sister’s alcoholism is to start dating an upper-middle class lad with funky hair. If there is such a thing as the American Dream, then this film is the British Dream and the moment the first frame came on screen, I was willing to suspend all disbelief and be swept along in it.