About Time (2013)

The critic calls it Curtis's most interesting, mature and deeply moving film, praising the father-son focus and performances by Gleeson and Nighy. He singles out the shift to emotional depth and family themes for praise over the rom-com elements.

The critic calls it a cute comedic yarn that ranks highly among Curtis classics, highlighting the father-son relationship over the romance as the film's heart.

The review recommends the film as a wildly improbable but ultimately charming romantic comedy that works despite its time-travel premise and contrived elements. It singles out the effortlessly skillful cast, especially Bill Nighy, for making the material land.

The critic finds the film a good-natured, daft but sweet fantasy romance that is impossible to dislike despite its traditional Curtis elements and Hugh Grant-replicant lead. It is heartfelt with a fragile sincerity, though it requires a sweet tooth.

The critic finds herself seduced by the film's feel-good romantic message despite its self-indulgent elements and is won over by the charming performances. She singles out the impeccable casting, particularly Domhnall Gleeson as the lead and Bill Nighy as the father, along with a standout comic turn by Tom Hollander.

The review calls the film a sweet, familiar and reassuringly bland romance that evokes deja vu but is buoyed by strong chemistry between leads. It singles out the radiant, believable pairing of Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams as what keeps the picture aloft.

A warm-hearted time-travelling rom-com that amuses and hits emotional notes especially in the father-son relationship, but lacks balance or tone and feels familiar with a ponderous structure.

The critic calls About Time a surprisingly thoughtful romantic comedy that keeps emotional gooeyness modulated with big laughs and strong performances for most of its runtime. It praises the pacing and self-reflective ideas about life and filmmaking but faults the softening into safe, sappy family-values territory at the end.

The critic finds About Time a modestly charming rom-com with time-travel elements, praising the lead performances and laughs but criticizing its overlong length, thin characters, and heavy sentimentality. It admires the ambition but notes it falls short of classics like Groundhog Day.

The critic finds the film familiar and comforting yet messy with patchy humour, praising the tender father-son relationship but noting some trite moments.

The critic sees the film as emblematic of Curtis's metaphysical smugness and class-bound sentimentality, where time travel serves only to smooth over life's imperfections without real stakes. He singles out the softened, blunted details and the heroine's implausible descent into demure domesticity as symptomatic flaws.

The review portrays the film as a flimsy, complacent romantic comedy that measures the decline of British manhood through its passive hero. It singles out the dull, frictionless ideal of happiness and the film's militant complacency as a key complaint.

The critic finds the film cosy to the point of smug, with an insular and patronising worldview despite an endearing lead performance. He singles out the privileged hero's effortless success and the it's-a-wonderful-life message for complaint.

The review portrays About Time as a sentimental sermon on living in the moment, appreciating some jokes and the time-travel premise but lamenting the shift from humor to heavy-handed homily.

The critic despises the film as glib and inept despite an improvement on Curtis's prior work, strong cast and attractive locations. He singles out the smug portrayal of privileged middle-class life and the clumsy handling of time-travel rules for particular complaint.

The critic praises how Richard Curtis uses the time travel concept to create both a charming love story and a powerful message about cherishing the present rather than the past. The film is noted for its relatable characters, witty comedy, strong performances especially by Gleeson, McAdams, and Nighy, and its emotional depth beyond typical rom-com tropes.

The critic praises the film's charm, humor, emotional depth, and distinctive British voice while noting its familiar themes and warm characters. They criticize its excessive length and the time-travel device feeling underused beyond a narrative tool.

The critic finds the film uneven, overlong, and implausible with familiar Curtis tropes, though it has some witty moments and strong performances from Gleeson and Nighy. They suggest Curtis is better as a writer than director.

The romantic comedy elements work reasonably well thanks to charming leads and sweet chemistry, but the film fails completely as science fiction due to inconsistent rules and a lack of dramatic stakes or consequences.

The film is critiqued for its creepy, unethical use of time travel to manipulate a relationship without consent or consequences, turning the female lead into an object and revealing itself as a story about men lying to women. It offers mild comedy but no real drama or moral engagement.

The critic finds the film overly sentimental and mawkish without enough of Curtis's usual witty dialogue to balance it. The time-travel premise leads to a message about living in the moment, but the lack of sharp comedy and reliance on sap makes the story feel tedious.

The critic calls the film lowest-common-denominator saccharine with an abusive, manipulative protagonist at its core whose time-travel powers enable non-consensual behavior toward women. Female characters are poorly written as objects or victims, and the story fails both as sci-fi and human drama.