2009 time-travel comedy
Rating: 14/20
Plot: Three friends deal with time travel issues after “a time machine that runs on karaoke and urine” sends them all over the place, leading to a critical choice.
There was a puking child within a minute of the opening credits, opening credits that recalled the swooshing block letters of the 1970’s Superman movie. As a sucker for puking children, I was hooked.
Don’t let that terrible poster scare you away from checking this out if you have any interest in time travel movies or British comedies. This is wacky, but it’s that polite kind of wackiness you’d expect from the English. I guess the best compliment I can give this movie is that it’s got a trio of goofballs who I would love to spend more time with. They’re losers, but lovable losers, probably not far removed from those Big Bang Theory characters although I’ve not seen enough of that show to really know. Actually, they’re probably not as smart as those characters, so forget I even made that comparison. They’re funny though, with their ideas for movies about a a “Ninja Yodeler” and their geeky Star Wars/Star Trek mix-ups. I always wish that movies like this would stay away from very NOW humor; unfortunately, this one targets Paris Hilton and Morrissey, references that aren’t going to make any sense in twenty years. Morrissey might not even make sense to a lot of Americans now actually.
Since this is a comedy, the time travel story doesn’t really have to make that much sense. I’m fairly positive that it doesn’t actually, but the story bursts with creativity and has a lot of fun with time travel motifs and cliches. Astute viewers, or maybe just middle-aged men with too much time on their hands who have watched far too many time-travel movies in the last couple weeks, will pick up nods to time-travel classics. The story keeps you guessing and stays fun even though the conclusion is far from satisfying.
In fact, it’s a conclusion that tricks you into thinking you really will get to spend more time with these characters and their time-traveling adventures. Sadly, there aren’t plans to continue the story, and the director, Garetch Carrivick, is not longer even alive. Carrivick directed a lot of television series, but this was his only movie.
