Extra Cinema: About Time (12A)

Undated Film Still Handout from About Time. Pictured: RACHEL MCADAMS as Mary and DOMHNALL GLEESON as Tim. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/UPI Media. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.

Director: Richard Curtis.

Set in London, with occasional forays to the Cornish coast, this bittersweet romcom — purportedly Richard Curtis’s last as director — concerns not only saying goodbye to the people you love, but also bidding farewell to childhood.

Shortly after he turns 21, nice guy Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) is ushered into the office of his father (Bill Nighy) who reveals that Tim harks from a long line of male time travellers.

Tim is stunned by his father’s outlandish claim but, sure enough, he is able to time-travel — which comes in very handy when he crosses paths with an insecure beauty called Mary (Rachel McAdams) and bungles their first meeting.

Tim corrects wrinkles in the relationship and romance blossoms.

However, every correction risks ripples through time and Tim gradually learns that there are some imperfections which must never be smoothed.

About Time is a treat.

Cast in the everyman role usually reserved for Hugh Grant, Gleeson’s a loveable hero and his chemistry with McAdams and Nighy is wonderful.

Laughter abounds, tempered by the poignancy of sequences between Tim and his father, which are among Curtis’s finest work on the page.

A real treat with some genuine insights on relationships.

Rating: 8/10