Rachel McAdams falls in love with a time traveler (again) in 'About Time'

If About Time is as sweet as it looks in the trailer, it might just redeem Rachel McAdams from appearing in the horrible time travel romance The Time Traveler's Wife. The two-minute preview sets up a plot that has just enough twists on existing time travel movies to make it interesting. Domhnall Gleeson plays a man who learns from his father (Bill Nighy) that everyone in his family has the gift of time travel. There's both Groundhog Day elements, where he uses his ability to time travel to redo moments with women where he messes up the first time, and larger thoughts about fate--in one scene, it's implied that the effects of a car crash can't be reversed, and in another, he meets the woman he's married in an earlier scene (Rachel McAdams), only to discover she doesn't recognize him. The above-average level of intricacy makes this sound intriguing.

 

There hasn't been a lot of Internet chatter about this release, which will come out November 8 through Universal. That's a strong time slot, which indicates that the trailer may be able to deliver on its promise. McAdams is already a proven romantic lead, with two big hits, The Notebook and The Vow, under her belt. But those movies co-starred Ryan Gosling and Channing Tatum, respectively, who are male romantic stars in their own right. In this feature, the story is told from the man's perspective, and Gleeson isn't as well-known. The redhead actor first rose to fame with his role as the gawky Bill Weasely in the Harry Potter series. He's since appeared in the well-regarded Never Let Me Go and last year as Levin in Anna Karenina. In the movie, he plays down his looks in the Bill Weasley direction, making him appear like the guy who can never get the girl--at least until he has time travel on his side.

The screenwriter and sometimes director Richard Curtis is helming the project, which seems like a bonus. He both wrote and directed Love Actually, which is part of the romantic comedy canon for those who love the genre. He's also written the scripts for Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and both the Bridget Jones series and all the Mr. Bean movies. The combination of McAdams, Gleeson, and Curtis may add up to an end-of-year romantic comedy that actually delivers.