Current:Home > Stocks'We Live in Time' review: A starry cancer drama that should have been weepier -Capitatum
'We Live in Time' review: A starry cancer drama that should have been weepier
Rekubit View
Date:2025-04-07 05:23:14
A kiss is the hallmark of a love story. The new “We Live in Time” should have kept that other K.I.S.S. in mind: Keep it simple, stupid.
Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are splendid together and give strong performances as a British couple navigating personal and professional obstacles, including a cancer diagnosis. But the romantic drama (★★½ out of four; rated R; in New York and LA now and nationwide Friday) utilizes a nonlinear narrative that doesn’t do anyone any favors and actually stymies the film's potential as an effective tearjerker.
Directed by John Crowley, who went from the astounding “Brooklyn” to dull “The Goldfinch,” “We Live in Time” bounces between three different periods in its core couple’s life.
Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox.
There’s the first few years, starting with rising-star chef Almut (Pugh) and Weetabix marketing guy Tobias (Garfield) enjoying an unconventional meet-cute when Alma hits him with her car while he’s out getting a pen to sign his divorce papers. That initial period intertwines with the birth of their daughter on a seriously nutty day and an important six-month window where Almut’s ovarian cancer makes her choose between a treatment that could lengthen her existence but add suffering or making the most of her time left.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The film ticks off some tropes, such as a hokey bit where they ride a carousel and some rom-com hokiness as Tobias and an extremely pregnant Almut have trouble leaving their parking space to get to the hospital and have their baby. (It does lead to one of the stronger sequences in the movie, where the couple is forced to deliver their kid in a gas-station bathroom amid a tornado of heartwarming and hilarious chaos.) Much of the emotional stakes feel earned because they skew real, especially as Almut and Tobias weigh children and marriage early in their relationship and need to make important medical decisions later.
“We Live in Time” nicely flips tired stereotypes and features a modern couple where the woman is the competitive one whose job is high on her priority list and the man is the devoted support system. Yet the movie goes so all in on Almut – even giving her a backstory as a champion figure skater – that Tobias is a character lacking development.
Whereas Almut has a cool job and a lot of time is spent on her making personal sacrifices to be in a major world cooking competition, Tobias is a loving dad and boyfriend whose wants and desires outside of getting married are left unexplored. Garfield at least is great at bringing nerdy warmth and awkward earnestness to Tobias, Pugh is enjoyably fiery as Almut and each gives depth to their characters’ features and foibles alike.
What mutes their emotional impact is the time-jumping aspect that differentiates the movie from similar tales. Crowley veers from the usual overt melodrama and emotional manipulation, though the way the film unfolds disrupts the natural emotional progression of their characters. A film like, say, all-time weepie cancer tale “Love Story” crescendos toward the eventual waterworks – while it may leave some looking for a tissue, “We Live in Time” ends up thwarting rather than boosting that catharsis.
Sometimes, you watch a film like this because you need a good cry. Armed with good intentions and better actors, "We Live in Time" boasts complex feelings and overcomplicates everything else.
veryGood! (789)
Related
- 2024 Olympics: Gymnast Ana Barbosu Taking Social Media Break After Scoring Controversy
- The 10 best real estate markets for 2024: Sales growth and affordability
- US homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and coronavirus pandemic aid lapses
- Georgia woman pleads guilty to stealing millions from Facebook to fund 'lavish lifestyle'
- Kansas City Chiefs CEO's Daughter Ava Hunt Hospitalized After Falling Down a Mountain
- Voter apathy and concerns about violence mark Iraqi’s first provincial elections in a decade
- Ohio Senate clears ban on gender-affirming care for minors, transgender athletes in girls sports
- Boston holiday party furor underscores intensity of race in the national conversation
- PHOTO COLLECTION: AP Top Photos of the Day Wednesday August 7, 2024
- Joe Flacco can get this bonus if he can lead Browns to first Super Bowl win in 1-year deal
Ranking
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Sacramento councilman charged with illegally hiring workers, wire fraud and blocking federal probe
- Chile arrests 55 people in a $275 million tax fraud case that officials call the country’s biggest
- A 4-month-old survived after a Tennessee tornado tossed him. His parents found him in a downed tree
- Paris Olympics live updates: Quincy Hall wins 400m thriller; USA women's hoops in action
- Israeli strike on school kills Al Jazeera cameraman in southern Gaza, network says
- Why Sharon Osbourne Says Recent Facelift Was “Worst Thing” She’s Done
- New York doctor, wife who appeared on Below Deck charged with fake opioid prescription scheme
Recommendation
Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
Fighting reported to be continuing in northern Myanmar despite China saying it arranged a cease-fire
Michigan man turned his $2 into $1 million after guessing five numbers from Powerball
King Charles pays light-hearted tribute to comedian Barry Humphries at Sydney memorial service
Olympic women's basketball bracket: Schedule, results, Team USA's path to gold
Matthew Perry’s Cause of Death Revealed
South Korea scrambles jets as China and Russia fly warplanes into its air defense zone
Is Costco going to raise membership fees for Gold Star and Executive members?