'About Time,' movie review

Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson share special moments in 'About Time.'

While kids will be busy stuffing themselves with sweets all weekend, adults get their own sugary treat courtesy of rom-com king Richard Curtis.

Curtis, who’s had a hand in everything from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” to “Notting Hill” to “Love Actually,” certainly has the recipe down pat. That may be faint praise, but occasionally, as Halloween reminds us, synthetic excess is acceptable.

In this case, we get a quirky concept, a romantic relationship, a gorgeous setting, several major milestones and some tearjerking sentimentality. From that description alone, you should know whether “About Time” is your kind of movie.

If so, you’ll probably be charmed by the uncommon courtship between Mary (Rachel McAdams), a young expat living in London, and Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), an aspiring British barrister.

Once Tim turns 21, his father (Bill Nighy) shares a major ancestral secret: all the men in their family can travel through time. So whenever Tim bungles his dates with Mary, he just rewinds and starts over, until he gets it right.

This trick, it turns out, is also useful elsewhere. His playwright friend (Tom Hollander) has a terrible opening night? Close the curtain and begin again. His sister (Lydia Wilson) falls for a jerk? Return to their first meeting and distract them both. A family member becomes seriously ill? Uh-oh. Some things, it seems, aren’t so easily fixed.

There’s some fun to be had here, but one can’t help wondering whether Curtis, who wrote and directed, should have gone back and fixed a few of his own errors before releasing the film.

For one thing, he’s geared his romance far more toward men than women, which seems an odd approach for such a conventional date-night flick.

The strongest emotional connections are between the male characters, while the time-traveling is a power bestowed only upon men — and kept secret from wives, who are regularly manipulated without their knowledge. Also, and for no apparent reason, our handsome leading actor is made to look like a geeky, overgrown adolescent throughout.

On the bright side, there’s no hiding Gleeson’s intelligence and crack timing, especially in his scenes with the wonderful Nighy. These are the best moments in the movie, particularly when they get to bond at the family’s stunning, beautifully shot seaside mansion in Cornwall.

McAdams is luminous, but she’s treated as a secondary character — just one more necessity in a film that also has to cram in New Year’s kisses, first dates, a wedding, a funeral, a new home and childbirth. Not to mention lots of earnest philosophizing about each of these events.

What makes the calculated sentimentality palatable is Curtis’ intelligent assurance as he guides us through each step. It’s a gooey indulgence, to be sure, but one that will please anybody with a cinematic sweet tooth.

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