A thoroughly charming movie, this is part romantic comedy, and part drama. Considering the fact
that it is indeed about time-travel, there is surprisingly little science fiction in it... it is merely the mechanism to examine the human bits, not the focus.
Upon being told that the men in his family can travel through time, Timmy first travels back to a recent New Year's Eve party at his parents' house. The mechanism is surprisingly simple... go into a dark cupboard or room, clench your fists, and concentrate. The director quite brilliantly included a distinctive sound effect "swoosh" on each incidence of time-travel, so even when it happens off-camera, you know what's going on.
On his second trip, he meets Mary and falls instantly and hopelessly. When he gets home, he discovers his flatmate, playwright and friend of his father's, had a horrible opening night when one of the actors forgot his lines and stood for a half hour (surely an exaggeration) in silence. Tim travels back in time to prompt the actor, saves the evening, then discovers his rookie mistake... he has "unmet" Mary and no longer has her telephone number and no idea where to find her.
The rest of the movie is their love story, and their life story. I won't ruin the surprises ahead, but it's touching and funny... a directive to live your life fully and gratefully.
For you knitters and crocheters, there is a gorgeous irish crochet lace top that Mary wears to a party... under overalls. Keep an eye out for it. There's also an amazing hexagon paperpiece quilt on the bed in Mary's flat, and a few gorgeous afghans in Tim's parents' home.
This was not my first viewing, and I still laughed out loud over fourteen times. Other than that I didn't keep counts, but even if you are not a fan of the time-travel genre, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not seeing this film. Five out of five.
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