SOMEWHERE IN TIME (1980)
Article 4887 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-31-2015
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc
Featuring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Christoper Plummer
Country: USA
What it is: Time travel romance

A playwright from 1979 becomes enamored with an actress in 1912, and finds a way to travel back to the past to meet her.

I hated this movie when I first saw it years ago. Watching it again now, I can see why I hated it; once the symphonic score rears it lush romantic head, the movie practically grabs me by the lapels, shakes me and screams “THIS IS A ROMANCE!!!!”, and I must confess I’m not actually keen on being shaken, especially for a romance. However, having spotted the culprit that made me hate the movie the first time, I found the movie much easier to endure now that I know what drove me away the last time. Even at that, I didn’t really grow to like anything about the movie until the playwright actually does travel to 1912, because it’s only at that point that the movie loosens up and starts to relax. Easily the best thing about the movie is Christopher Reeve’s performance; despite the fact that he is the epitome of the “handsome leading man”, his ability to play up a character’s nervousness and awkwardness and his knack for finding the humor makes him feel likable and approachable. In fact, the movie is well-acted by all concerned, and I can admire that despite the fact that the movie was made in the late seventies, it projects an aura of being a movie from the forties. Still, the movie is what it is, and that’s a tear-jerking romance, and if that’s not what you’re looking for, the movie’s appeal will be somewhat limited. No, I don’t hate the movie anymore, but it has moved to the category of “movies I don’t have a whole lot of use for”, which isn’t exactly a recommendation, either.