In a parallel reality, everyone reaches 25 then has to buy whatever time they can live on without ageing. Now 28, Will (Timberlake) lives hour-to-hour in a poor part of Los Angeles. Then one day a rich stranger (Bomer) gives him an entire century. Now tenacious Timekeeper Raymond (Murphy) must account for Will's extra hours, while a gangster (Pettyfer) wants them for himself. So Will heads for the wealthy Greenwich zone, where he meets Sylvia (Seyfried), daughter of billionaire Philippe (Kartheiser). They decide to steal and give away as many hours as possible.

This Robin Hood element is the best thing about the film, although Niccol never really develops it. He just sends Will and Sylvia on a Bonnie and Clyde-style spree, never exploring the underlying issues or how their actions are affecting people's lives. In other words, it feels like a simple-minded popcorn movie, never expressing the bigger ideas that made Niccol's earlier future-toned films (such as The Truman Show and Gattaca) so involving.

And the script feels lazy in other ways, eliminating pesky things like mobile phones. And stealing someone's time is far too easy. This strains the banked-time metaphor badly, because we can't suspend our disbelief. One other issue is that, due to the premise, the entire cast looks 25, and while some of these characters are over a century in age, they still act like 25-year-olds.

This isn't a problem for Timberlake and Seyfried, who are good at playing idealistic young people who don't think through the ramifications of their actions. It's less effective with Kartheiser, Pettyfer and Wilde (as Will's mum), who are good enough to give their characters some depth, but are never given dialog that even hints at worldly wisdom. The exception is Murphy, who always seems to have an ancient soul.

Niccol is obviously making a comment on the unjust distribution of wealth, but he badly stretches the metaphor. And with such a flabby script, the film struggles to generate any real suspense. People are bad only because we're told they are. And this alternative reality seems so hideously unfair that we don't really care what happens.

themes, language, violence

28.Oct.11