In Time (2011) Film 48/50

So. In Time. A movie in which Olivia Wilde plays Justin Timberlake's 50-year-old mom. Record scratch! Say what?! And apparently no one looks older than twenty-five in this dystopian future except for Johnny Galecki. Go figure.

As if money weren't a great enough abstract, this movie turns time into currency. It brings an all new meaning to the term 'timeshare'...literally. And characters abuse time-themed idioms as if they were racing against the clock.

See what I did there?

In a film where money equals life, it's difficult to not consider this a comment on today's obsession with class and social status. And trust me, this film does not lack for subtlety. At all. The rich spend their time on extravagant items but refuse to enjoy them as anything more than superficial possessions. Meanwhile, the poor struggle to survive from day to day.

I really want to know how this "living time" arrangement came to be.

And then there are the timekeepers and minutemen. Think the IRS meets loan sharks...but with minutes instead of dollars. And Cillian Murphy plays their "by the book" puppet master badass leader? Exactly who he is and how he came into this job is vague, but I always love it when he plays the villain.

While I can completely buy that our society has turned into some evil version of a punch clock in exchange for everlasting youth (or at least, everlasting until the last second runs out on your wrist), I do not for one moment believe that J-Timbs and Amanda Seyfried have enough chemistry to warrant the kidnapping-turned-love-affair-Robin-Hood-escapades that run the major plot points of this film.

But you know what this movie would be great for? A time-themed drinking game! Every time someone dies from a non "timed out" death, take a drink! Every time Johnny Galecki takes a drink, take a drink! Every time you start to suspect Mitt Romney had something to do with the genetic engineering that resulted in the "living time" plot of this film, take a drink!

Opening up the discussion board for additional rules now.

As for the actual quality of the film, it's your standard dystopian-future-action-flick trying to to make its Occupy Wall Street commentary using centuries to represent the 1% while the 99% barely scrape by with hours and minutes. Apparently, the filmmakers endorse robbing banks as a means for balancing the economic disparity facing our nation today. At least, that's the message I came away with. The only plus in our society's column is that our hearts don't immediately stop beating the moment our bank accounts go bankrupt. Whoever thought that was a good way to engineer humans was probably a Trump.

Stylistically, the movie is slick. There is no corporate branding...even on the cars. Which is oddly refreshing. Even Star Trek gave Starfleet a brand. Instead, the only labels worth caring about are glowing on your wrist, reminiscent more of the identification numbers tattooed on holocaust victims than brand names though. This is a dystopian society, after all.

Other than the mood and aesthetic of the film, the movie doesn't have much more to offer than cliché time expressions and Cillian Murphy's well chiseled cheekbones. There are all these great opportunities for the writers to make connections with backstories and plot twists but ultimately drop the ball by leaving a variety of loose ends and holes. There is evidently some history involving Timekeeper Murphy and J-Timbs' dad, but the scene was either cut or (worse) never conceived. Talk about a waste of time.

So...if you haven't seen this film and are of legal drinking age and have arranged for a designated driver, I recommend finding a decent set of drinking game rules for this film and going to town. Otherwise...well, you best have a serious crush on either the Prince of Pop or Cheekbones Murphy.

I seriously love those cheekbones.