There has to be at least one time in your life you wish you could do over. You could erase a decision as monumental as a regrettable exploit that still affects you today or as trivial as revealing something incredibly embarrassing to a crush. But what would you do if you could relive and redo anything you wanted to mold a flawless life?
The relatable and awkward character Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers at the age of 21 that the men in his family have the ability to time travel in Richard Curtis’s movie “About Time.”

With this newfound ability, Lake goes from his home in Cornwall to London to become a lawyer and find love. Lake meets Mary (Rachel McAdams), a reader for a publishing company, and falls in love, eventually winning her heart. Lake works to make life as great as he can for himself and his loved ones, dealing with time travel snafus along the way.

Overall, the film was charming and riddled with humor. The main message, when one gets past the initial love story, is that people can impact others through their actions and words.

This was most apparent when Lake’s uncle Desmond (Richard Cordery) said the best day of his life was when Lake’s father (Bill Nighy) said he loved him and Lake during a best man speech. However, Nighy’s character had decided to go back and redo the speech shortly after he initially gave it, as he realized he had not expressed his love for his son and other relatives.

Another theme was that sometimes the drollness of life can make life exceptional. As Lake said at the end of the film, “ … live every day like it was the final day of (an) extraordinary, ordinary life.”

Compared to the epic moments sprinkled throughout our lives, the majority of our time is spent on little, seemingly unimportant moments. There are times when we must make sacrifices or let go of who or what is dear to us, but we are reminded to take everything in stride and to approach the day with humor. This movie does a wonderful job of saying that life is not to be taken for granted and that each day we have the power to change the course of ours as well as others’ lives.

Another great aspect of the film was the subtle emphasis on reading. Lake’s father said he used time travel mostly to read all that a man could desire. Then Lake meets Mary, who happens to be a reader for a publishing company. Wouldn’t it be amazing to simply read book manuscripts for a living? After all, with the right string of words, beautiful stories can unfold and a whole new corner of the reader’s imagination can be unlocked.