The Spotlight: Romantic Time Travel Movies

To balance out my love of disturbing movies, I like to partake in a few romantic comedies from time to time. Anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for time travel movies, so when the two come together, it is irresistible. I was recently convinced to read a book just by the sentence, “It’s like Sliding Doors meets a Choose Your Own Adventure novel.”  Can you guess the book?

Why time travel romantic comedies? I love the idea of possibility, especially in my younger years when I wasn’t having too much luck in the romance department. Are we able to change our own fate?  Will a simple choice as going to a friend’s party rather than staying home on the couch be the difference between finding true love or watching another romantic time travel movie ALONE? #introvertstruggles

You’ll never know unless you STOP READING THIS and GO! Well, maybe finish this post–it’s short. THEN GO!

1. Sliding Doors. 1998. 99 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Londoner Helen’s (Gwyneth Paltrow life can go two ways: if she makes the train, she catches her long time boyfriend cheating on her and meets a new wonderful man; if she misses the train, she goes on blissfully unaware. It’s the all time “What If” movie, full of humor and warm fuzzy feelings.

2. 13 Going on 30. 2004. 98 minutes. Rated PG-13.

If you hate Jennifer Garner, skip to #3. This is the movie where I fell in love with Mark Ruffalo.  Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) cannot wait to grow up so she makes a wish on her 13th birthday and wakes up as a 30-year-old (personally, that would be pretty cool. I didn’t like my 20s very much anyway). I don’t normally cry at movies, but there’s a particular scene with Mark Ruffalo looking wounded that made me ugly cry (see Ryan Gosling effect).

3. Time Traveler’s Wife. 2009. 107 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Henry (Eric Bana), a special collections librarian has a rare gene that causes him to time travel. He doesn’t know when it will happen, so he’s pretty ill-prepared (as he always goes stark naked–no complaints from me there), but not when it comes to love. He meets Claire (Rachel McAdams--who I confuse with Jennifer Garner sometimes) during one of these blips when he is an “older” man and she is a young child.  If you think about the premise it’s kinda creepy that this 40 year old man meets a 10 year old alone for picnics in the woods until she turns 18.  This one is more tragic romance and less comedic but worthy of the list. I read the book on this one beforehand, so I pretty much cried from the opening credits to the ending.

4. Naked. 2017. 96 minutes. Rated TV-14.

Don’t tell anyone, but White Chicks is like an all-time favorite movie of mine, so when I saw that Marlon Wayans was starring in a Netflix time travel original movie, I couldn’t help myself. Rob Anderson (Wayans) keeps waking up naked in an elevator on the day of his wedding, forced to relive the embarrassment over and over again until he gets the day right. Time travel is a wonderful device to teach a lesson and a good dose of Schadenfreude.

5. When We First Met. 2018. 97 minutes. Rated TV-14.

I just watched this one in honor of Valentine’s Day. Noah (Adam Devine) is convinced that if only he got his first meeting with Avery (Alexandra Daddario) perfect, she wouldn’t have put him in the friend zone. Using an old fashioned photo booth at the jazz bar he works at, he is able to travel back in time to the Halloween party three years ago until he gets the results right. For me, it had the perfect outcome. 

6. Groundhog Day. 1993. 101 minutes. Rated PG.

If you are only going to watch one movie from this list, pick this one. I watch this movie every year in honor of Groundhog Day. It is in my top movies of all time (a much better choice than White Chicks, I know). Weatherman Phil (Bill Murray) is forced every year to go to Punxsutawney for the annual Groundhog Day celebration. Only this year, he can’t stop reliving the same day over and over again. Stuck in his own form of hell, he decides to court his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell). As each day passes for him, he learns more about Rita to use to set up the perfect day which never goes particularly well. He then proceeds to go down a dark path of failed suicides and groundhog kidnapping. Although it is never told how many times he actually relives Groundhog Day, director Harold Ramis says about 10 years of repeating where others guess about 33 years based on the number of talents possessed by the last day. My favorite day is the one where he orders everything in the diner and smokes cigarettes spouting off that he “is a god.” Anna wrote a longer post for TBBC. 

7. About Time. 2013. 123 minutes. Rated R.

Tim (very close to TIME, I like what they did there… played by Domhnall Gleeson) discovers at the age of 21 that all the men in his family can time travel within their own timelines.  He decides to go back in time to get a girlfriend (Rachel McAdams) with mixed results.  He spends a lot of time trying to get everything right and finds out there are some things that are perfect in their own way.

8. Bokudake ga Inai Machi (Erased). 2017. TV Series-12 episodes. Rated TV-14.

Part romance (but mostly thriller), this is a Japanese TV show on Netflix where a young introvert pizza delivery boy named Satoru (Yûki Furukawa) is sent back in his own timeline to prevent a serial killer from murdering his classmates.  All the kid actors are amazing. It reminded me of those old movies about kid camaraderie, like Goonies or The Sandlot, to help solve a problem.

https://youtu.be/55SexwXaSNo

9. Donnie Darko 2001. 113 minutes. Rated R.

Last but certainly not least, teenage loner Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) befriends a giant “imaginary” rabbit named Frank while finding his first true love. Donnie sleep walks while carrying out messages from Frank, who saves his life from a freak accident, and helps Donnie uncover town secrets. Is it his medications or is Frank real? This movie rocked my freshman year of college. I watched it multiple times just to make sure all my friends saw it. I’m afraid to say too much more or it would spoil the surprises but it’s a beautiful puzzle with a darkly comedic script and a killer soundtrack. Don’t forget a shout out to Sad Clock.

So watch a few of these and then make yourself go to that friend’s party–because you never know what fate has in store unless you end up in Punxsutawney during a snow storm.

Author: Jessica

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