Review: FAQ About Time Travel

Three mates (science-fiction geeks Chris O’Dowd and Marc Wootton, and their sceptical and sarcastic pal Dean Lennox Kelly) meet up at the local pub to find a leak in time in the men’s toilets (leak? Get it?!). Yes, you read that correctly. O’Dowd (who has just been hilariously fired from his gig at a spacey theme park) runs into Anna Faris, a hot chick who says she’s from the future and apparently her job is to fix such holes in time, though she doesn’t seem to be very good at it. She also tells O’Dowd that he and his mates will become famous in the future for some idea that Wootton apparently came up with. Needless to say, his pals don’t initially believe him, but when one of them takes a piss and walks out to see dead bodies everywhere (including his own), the others wise up pretty quickly. The question is, what idea is it that has influenced the future so much? Given that Wootton has written an exercise book full of ideas, all of them apparently awful, they haven’t a clue. Meanwhile, they need to be careful as they continue hopping back and forth in time, they don’t want to do something silly like bump into their past or future selves.

This 2009 brit comedy from debutant Gareth Carrivick is like “Hot Tub Time Machine” mixed with a little “Red Dwarf” for good measure. It’s not brilliant, but it is clever and often funny, especially if you know your “Flash Gordon” quotes. I also loved the bit where one of the characters describes his experiences hiding in a cupboard as though he’d ended up in Narnia. You also cannot help but laugh at the reference to O’Dowd being a ‘time lord’. Only a nerdy Brit would find pride in that.

More importantly, it understands the concepts, complexities and paradoxes of time travel far greater than “Hot Tub Time Machine” did. “Hot Tub” was a pretty funny film for the most part, but despite making references to “The Butterfly Effect” it didn’t seem to realise that the character played by Clark Duke was in and of himself, the human embodiment of “The Butterfly Effect” (i.e. He was sent back in time to a period that he was yet to be born and was interacting with his yet-to-be parents). I could never get past that, it was such a glaringly obvious logic flaw in my view. This film doesn’t get the science/logic perfect (Time travel-related issues seem to only affect the three main characters, not the rest of the pub patrons for the most part), but it’s close enough for my liking. It’s also a pretty likeable film, with the always amiable O’Dowd (whom you couldn’t help but feel sorry for in “The Boat That Rocked”) and amusingly ditzy Faris leading the way. Certainly the characters are easier to like than the slightly sleazy guys from “Hot Tub”, although Dean Lennox Kelly’s constant derisions of nerd-like behaviour and interests seems an odd fit for someone supposedly a life-long friend of the other two main leads. I’m also not sure why every British comedy flick (or at least the ones that send-up other genres like horror and science-fiction) needs to centre around a pub, though. Don’t you poms do anything else besides have a pint? And would sci-fi nerds like the ones in this film frequent a pub? (I’m Australian, a non-drinker, and practically a hermit, so perhaps I’m just weird). More importantly, the fact that most of this film takes place in and around a pub, it does seem a little unimaginative (and limiting) for a film with so much emphasis on imaginative ideas like time travel.

Still, the film is jolly good fun, even if everyone knows that the best point in time to have killed George Lucas is after “The Phantom Menace”. Shut up, it’s a damn underrated film. And I will say that although pubs and drinking are somewhat foreign to me (Yes, it is sacrilegious for an Aussie to not consume alcohol), I have to admit that all this time travelling coming in and out of the pub toilets is pretty cute. And this is ten times funnier than “Shaun of the Dead” at any rate (not to mention populated by nicer people).

The screenplay by newcomer Jamie Mathieson is cute and clever, but I must admit it’s pretty lightweight stuff. Yes there’s some interesting science stuff and a fair few geeky references (In particular, fans of the cult TV series “Firefly” and its film version “Serenity” will get a chuckle here), but I think the film could’ve been even better, as it starts a lot better than it ends.

Watch this film at least once, especially if you’re a little on the nerdy side. It’s OK, you’re among friends here. Just remember not to tread on any butterflies or shag anyone who might end up being your grandmother.

Rating: B-