“About Time” (2013)
Richard Curtis‘ high-concept romantic comedy is much better than it has any right to be. Replete with familiar, standard-issue Curtisisms —a sappily romantic male lead (Domhnall Gleeson) who might as well have hearts for eyes, an endearingly bumbling voiceover, a deeply affectionate portrait of upper-middle British eccentricity— the film adds a rather loopy and not particularly logical time travel element herein to give things a supernatural slant. Early on, that’s all it appears to be: an excuse for Gleeson’s Tim to “Groundhog Day” his meet-cute with the very cute Mary (McAdams) until he gets it right and they both stroll off to the strains of some Ellie Goulding track. And that does happen —but the winning-the-girl aspect occurs less than halfway through the film, after which it becomes far more about a lifelong journey and ultimately about fathers and sons than it does a standard rom-com. McAdams is predictably adorable in those early parts, and it’s entirely believable that Tim would clap eyes on her once and move mountains to find her again. But seeing as this is a film which most problematically relies on Tim deceiving everyone he’s closest to, even Mary, as to the true nature of his abilities (with only the noblest of intentions of course), it would have been easy for her to come across as a cipher, if not a bit of a sap. But McAdams gives Mary just enough spine to her sweetness that even when the focus of the film shifts away from her in the last third, and even though she has to suffer through some rather cliché moments (Women! They can never decide what to wear!), we get an idea of her as a person intrinsically, and not just Tim’s reward for being a nice guy. Problems abound if you think about “About Time” even momentarily, but the film’s instinct to go beyond the “happily ever after” moment with this particular couple is a genuine treat.
See Also: You’re spoiled for choice if you want McAdams as a romantic lead, but if we are sticking with the generation-spanning, lifelong journey theme, “The Notebook” is pretty un-ignorable. While it might not be my cup of tea (not so much sugar, thanks), McAdams is very committed and winning in the role, selling the swooniness better than most actors could and rustling up appropriate Sparks with co-star Ryan Gosling. Less successful on every level was her other time-travel romance “The Time Traveler’s Wife” with Eric Bana, which has all the logic gaps of “About Time” with about half the heart.
Honorable Mentions
There are various other roles that either felt too small or too much like another part to include above, but that the Advanced Rachel McAdams student may want to check out. Obviously there’s “Wedding Crashers” in which McAdams carries a role that in someone else’s hands could be a big ol’ buzzkill to the juvenile antics of bros Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. She is not just appealing in the way that might make a guy want to instantly change his entire outlook on life —she is also actually funny at times (even when her unfunniness is the subject of the gag, as during her awkward bridesmaid speech), and touching at others (as in her scenes with her dad, played by an uncharacteristically warm Christopher Walken). And of course there’s her turn in Terrence Malick‘s “To the Wonder,” which is as divisive a film as Malick has made (at least until “Knight of Cups” gets a release) and doesn’t give her a huge amount to do beyond trying to keep her hair out of her eyes in the wind, but she still manages to project more melancholic personality into her few scenes than Ben Affleck can in many more.
Hardly essential but interesting anyway: her sole franchise to date (she has miraculously avoided being sucked into the Marvel machine or the Dystopian Young Adult adaptation black hole so far) is Guy Ritchie‘s “Sherlock Holmes” movies, in which she plays Irene Adler —she’s apparently slated to return for the third installment, and certainly one of the many things wrong with the second was that it had so much less of her. We’d also be remiss in avoiding mention of “The Vow” with Channing Tatum, which is a load of drippy Valentine’s day claptrap (so boringly chaste!), and so of course made a gazillion quid, outstripping even “The Notebook” to become the 8th highest-grossing romantic drama of all time.
As for the future, 2015 by rights should have been the year of McAdams, with no fewer than five features due for release as well as “True Detective.” But while she lends her voice to the lovely animation “The Little Prince,” which we loved in Cannes, her next three 2015 titles are Cameron Crowe‘s poorly received “Aloha,” Antoine Fuqua‘s “Southpaw” which, good or bad, early reviews and a spoilery trailer suggest won’t have that much to do with her, and Wim Wenders‘ turgid Berlinale title “Every Thing Will Be Fine.” However more promisingly, coming up in November if not before, there’s “Spotlight” in which she co-stars with an amazingly stacked cast (Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, Liev Schreiber, Billy Crudup, John Slattery) in the story of the Boston Globe’s expose of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church. It’s a promising project with a great cast that has netted a prime awards slot and is co-written and directed by Thomas McCarthy who has some skin in the game, needing to reestablish his credentials after the major stumble of “The Cobbler.” Here’s hoping it will be the film to bring her non-button-related talents to wider attention: whatever the case, I’ll be first in line.