Plot holes aside, About Time is a Better-Than-Average Romantic Comedy

Plenty of critics have pointed out the plot holes in the new romantic-comedy About Time, a film about a man (Harry Potter’s Domhnall Gleeson) who travels back in time to save his relationship with the woman (Rachel McAdams) he loves. We can't argue with those critics. Yes, more than a few inconsistencies mar the story line. But this smartly written and well-acted movie ultimately overcomes those limitations.

British writer-director Richard Curtis, the man behind the film, has had a hand in fine genre flicks such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café. He's good at mixing comedy and drama and turning up the heart-warming meter when need be. The story here concerns 21-year-old Tim Lake (Gleeson). When his father (Bill Nighy) tells him he’s inherited the ability to travel back in time, Tim immediately transports himself back to kiss a girl on New Year’s Eve. That starts him on the path to try to find true love. When he misses out on an opportunity with Mary (McAdams), an attractive brunette he meets at a “dinner in the dark,” he travels back in time to make sure he asks her out properly. They eventually begin a life together.
Gleeson makes for a good romantic lead, and McAdams, who also starred in the time-travel romance The Time Traveler's Wife, is equally charming. The two have great chemistry. Nighy is fantastic as Tim’s loving father.