Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Gareth Carrivick

Writer:

Jamie Mathieson (written by)

Release Date:

24 April 2009 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

While drinking at their local pub, three social outcasts attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum.

Plot Keywords:

Pub | Time Travel | Alternate Reality

Cast

Chris O'Dowd	...	Ray
Marc Wootton	...	Toby
Dean Lennox Kelly	...	Pete
Anna Faris	...	Cassie
Meredith MacNeill	...	Millie
Ray Gardner	...	Mellor
Nick Ewans	...	Barry
Arthur Nightingale	...	Old Man

Also Known As:

FAQ About Time Travel (UK) (DVD title)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ray: Time travel. It'll turn your brain into spaghetti if you let it. Best not to think about it. Best just to get on with the job in hand. Which is destroying the enemy before they're even born and have a chance to threaten us. We're expecting any resistance to be light, because the ancestors of our enemies have yet to evolve any thumbs... or indeed spines. But that does not change the fact that they may one day evolve into a species that may pose a threat to us. And for that reason, we are going to rain down a fiery death upon them that will turn the surface of their planet into a radioactive desert! Because we are the planetary peace corps! And that is what we do! Now, are you nappy-wearing motherfuckers ready to lock and load, and *get it on*?

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

Rivers of Babylon

Disappointing

Three disaffected thirtyish men go for a drink in a pub and have a night to remember. After one of them has a chance meeting with a strange girl and another has a mind-bending experience on using the toilet, all three find they have travelled in time and inadvertently changed the future…

The film borrows freely from science fiction films, TV and fiction (The Terminator, Doctor Who and Ray Bradbury's story A Sound of Thunder are among its more obvious influences). The premise is unusual for a comedy and the start of the film seems promising but, after its first half hour, it quickly becomes tedious. I laughed only once or twice in the whole film.

The characters are just not as endearing as they're meant to be and the plot meanders, lacking the excitement of The Terminator and the appeal of Doctor Who. The writer seems uncertain of where to go with the plot and throws in various gimmicks which seem to take us nowhere. After some impressive effects in the opening scene, the rest of the film's relatively few special effects look cheap and feel as if they don't quite belong to the same film. Disappointing.