*****
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.
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