TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THIS FILM IS
WILD, WITTY, AND WICKEDLY FUNNY
Here’s a British delight that serves up a deliciously daffy mix of cunning comedy and science fiction—let’s call it “Sly-Fi,” a perfectly fitting term for this kooky genre blend. The triumphant mockumentary, Time Travel Is Dangerous, dares to be loopy and over the top with its outrageous situations and unlikely characters, whether likeable or unlikeable. Yet, under Chris Reading’s wise direction, the cast plays everything straight, letting the audience revel in the contrast between absurd events and characters treating them as fairly normal. Theatrically, it’s a clever choice—characters may treat the questionable as ordinary, but subtle shades of skepticism emerge, with the more rational among them raising eyebrows or voicing doubts. The result? A cascade of laughs and double-takes as we react not just to the madness unfolding, but to their reactions to it.
The humor in Time Travel Is Dangerous thrives on the out-of-proportion contrast between what is said and how it is said. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the film’s hilariously deadpan duo: Ruth Syratt and Megan Stevenson, who play second-hand shop owners struggling with overdue rent and the threat of eviction. Their characters share their real names because—believe it or not—they actually do run an antique shop, discovered by the director. With the lowest energy, the slowest delivery, and the flattest vocal tones—whether talking to each other or to the camera—the shopkeepers keep talking shop, droopily discussing dull details or dire problems. Then comes the ultimate discovery: a discarded time machine shaped like a bumper car, tossed out like junk next to the dumpsters where they regularly scavenge for resale items.
It would take guts or stupidity to risk one’s life traveling through time with an unproven device, with no assurance they could get somewhere and back safely—or get back at all. Their derring-do may spell disaster, but the business-minded duo know that if they land in past centuries they can find and snitch plenty of items with which they can stock their shop. No purchases, no travel expenses or tariffs incurred. Returning to the current century, these things can easily be classified as rare antiques that can fetch a good price. But, after visiting the past, the future has more in store than store profits.
Soon Ruth and Megan are in attendance at a meeting of oddball science-loving inventors presenting their oddball ideas and contraptions. These quirky characters and others connected to their past are played with panache by Guy Henry, Brian Bovell, Tony Way, Johnny Vegas and others—Stephen Fry is our narrator. In the meeting, the newcomers are warned by those who’ve learned the lesson all too well from past experience that “time travel is dangerous.” But the damage may have been done. The warped humor increases with the time warps and the stakes become high. People lose their temper, lose hope, lose courage, and discover that you can lose an essential part of the earth’s surroundings and, when spinning through the layers of time, one can tumble and stumble into a trap in which a traveler can even lose one’s life.
But all is not lost: “Once more unto the breach”, if we may quote Shakespeare. Perhaps the Bard is related to the movie’s producers: sisters Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare and Hillary Shakespeare who also penned the surprise-filled screenplay with director Reading. One must also give props to the prop designers for the shop’s packed shelves and the unconventional inventions. “Inventive” is the word for this nifty release.
stills courtesy of Strike Media
Time Travel is Dangerous
Shakespeare Sisters Ltd.
2024 | United Kingdom | 1h 39m | Comedy/Sci-Fi
coming to UK cinemas from 28th March
for screenings, visit Time Travel
