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The Child in Time

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Rent The Child in Time on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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The Child in Time skillfully resists melodrama, trusting the finer details of its story -- and the actors bringing them to life -- to land with a slow-building, devastating impact.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Julian Farino

Benedict Cumberbatch

Kelly Macdonald

Stephen Campbell Moore

Saskia Reeves

Andrea Hall

Policewoman

The Child in Time review – an agonising portrayal of panic and guilt

G od, that’s not an easy watch, the first 10 minutes or so of The Child in Time (BBC1). First, Stephen (Benedict Cumberbatch) returns home in a police car and goes inside to tell his wife, Julie (Kelly Macdonald), the worst news in the world: that their four-year-old daughter Kate has disappeared. “She was there,” he says. “She was there, she was just there, she was right there.”

Next, we’re a few years down the line. Stephen, a writer of children’s books as well as a member of a government childcare committee, is trying – inevitably not entirely successfully – to carry on with some kind of life. Without Julie, however, who, also inevitably, now lives separately. How can a marriage ever survive that? Not just the loss and the pain, but the blame and the guilt, too.

And then we go back, an hour or two before the opening scene, to the moment itself, in the supermarket. A lovely trolley zoom for Kate, down an empty aisle, then check out and distraction, wait for Daddy …

Every parent will recognise it, the where-are-they moment, the sudden blind panic, the quickening of the heart rate and tightening of the stomach that goes with it. This way? No. Over here? Faster, more and more desperate. Think! Yes, outside, always outside first because that’s the most frightening possibility, but then, when you can’t see them out there, back in, shouting and appealing for help. “Kate? Kate! Has anyone seen a little girl, a four-year-old girl, she was wearing a yellow coat, she’s called Kate ...”

And then they’re there, in the fruit aisle, eating a few sneaky grapes, or with a kindly – but ever-so-slightly disapproving – stranger, and you’re suddenly overcome with relief, and a little bit of crossness, and embarrassment, but mostly a big wave of love. Except for the one time in a million when then they’re not there, ever again, except in a vision – like the little girl in the yellow coat, Kate.

It’s not just the situation but Cumberbatch’s performance that makes it so agonising. Physically so. I felt the stress, the tightening and quickening. I felt sick. It’s a brutal portrayal of panic and guilt, and then a world falling silently apart. Brilliant by Macdonald, too, of a mother’s loss, possibly profounder still. And try as she might, she is unable not to blame him, even if she also still loves him.

All 220 pages of an Ian McEwan novel into an hour-and-a-half adaption doesn’t all go, stuff gets left out. There’s no Thatcherite backdrop here; the new PM (played by Elliot Levey) is more like an amalgam of Cameron and Blair, again soulless, and the government’s attitudes to education and children are archaic and depressing, more about discipline than development. That’s fine, it transfers, even if it lacks McEwan’s rage and is a less political thing.

Stephen’s best mate and publisher, Charles, survives the adaptation process. It’s an odd portrayal by Stephen Campbell Moore, but then odd too is Charles’s breakdown and reversion to his early years, even if it plays into the theme of childhood.

One casualty of the journey to television is Charles’s wife, Thelma. She’s still here, but just as a wife and a friend, stripped of her quantum physicist profession (that itself is a kind of step back in time, no?). With that go her theories on – and discussions with Stephen about – space and time, which, although baffling, tied in with the book’s time warps and visions. Maybe 90 minutes isn’t enough time to explore the nature and mysteries of time.

The TV drama is a simpler thing then, of course it is. But it’s still a deeply affecting portrait of loss and what that does to love. It is painful, but not entirely without hope, given time.

To Antiques Roadshow (BBC1), at Castle Howard off Brideshead Revisited and celebrating its ruby anniversary – 40 years – with emeralds. Not that this fella who brought them in knew; he thought the green stones on a gold necklace were jade. No, emeralds, says Joanna Hardy. And the pearls are freshwater baroque ones, the chain is 15-carat gold, it was made in about 1915 … yeah, all right, never mind about that, how much?

“I think, at auction,” says Joanna, “I reckon you would get around three to five … thousand pounds!”

The people who go on Antiques Roadshow aren’t allowed to be disappointed. But I am: IS THAT ALL?

Benedict Cumberbatch
Kelly Macdonald

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‘The Child in Time’ Review: Benedict Cumberbatch Finds Hope in This Woeful, Worthwhile Tale

Hanh nguyen.

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“ The Child in Time ” is a challenge to watch, especially in the beginning as it spins its tale of loss by shuttling back and forth chronologically. We see the emotionally spare present-day life of children’s author Stephen Lewis (Benedict Cumberbatch) juxtaposed with flashbacks to the despair of the previous year, when his young daughter Kate goes missing while she’s out with him.

As brutal as it is, dipping back in time over and over again serves several purposes. It clues viewers in to the breakdown of Stephen’s marriage with grieving wife Julie (Kelly Macdonald), it keeps the pain fresh for viewers so that we understand Stephen’s daily purgatory in the present, and it also introduces the concept of how time is not merely a linear experience when it comes to emotions. Time may heal all wounds, but wounds can also be reopened and experienced in new ways. Check out a trailer for the movie below:

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At this point, we would be remiss not to mention IndieWire favorite series “The Leftovers,” which echoes this story: A loved one vanishes in an instant without a trace, without explanation, and without real closure. How one decides to continue with life — to give up and move on or hold out for the hope of being reunited — is central to “The Child in Time,” as well. The main difference, however, is that it’s Stephen who can’t let go of the idea that he will find Kate, perhaps because he feels responsible for losing track of her in the first place. And as with “The Leftovers,” this tale will be relatable for anyone who has experienced loss. Death might be inevitable, but that doesn’t make it easier to grapple with for those left behind. Mourning does not follow a set schedule.

Stephen Butchard’s adaptation of McEwan’s novel doesn’t waste a scene. Every line of dialogue rings so true it makes the inner ear bones hum. Fortunately, Cumberbatch and Macdonald know how to communicate the authenticity of every emotion and situation in understated yet powerful ways. As much as their anguish and despair can rip out our souls, they are just as devastating in the smaller moments, such as when they attempt a sweetly awkward reconciliation.

The character Charles Darke (Stephen Campbell Moore) from the novel makes it into Butchard’s script in a significant enough way to be disturbing, but perhaps not as fully as he should be. His trajectory includes themes of childhood and loss, but an essential piece to his story has been dropped. His wife Thelma (Saskia Reeves), who was a quantum physicist in the novel was able to weigh in on the concept of time, but here is stripped of that profession. The Darkes matter, but their scenes are jarring in their unevenness to the whole of the story, and the all-important temporal element (keeping in mind the movie’s title) has been lost.

Director Julian Farino makes the most of his 90 minutes to create a dreamy, otherworldly atmosphere and meandering pace that doesn’t feel rushed to reveal how Stephen can find peace. Much like how we see Stephen thrust back and forth from agonized and upset to cautiously numb, the audio goes from raucous and frenzied to nonexistent except for the tinkling of a piano’s keys, and then back again. And again. And again. It approximates Stephen’s two states of being: There’s the real world and then there’s the real world once removed, experienced through some sort of veil. Stephen is not quite there, he’s just out of reach, and often framed in doorways and glimpsed through a break in the crowd as a result.

Investing in the alienation and the floundering attempts to find meaning is crucial to embracing what “The Child in Time” is. The viewer must go along with Stephen on this strange and intimate journey because only by enduring the torture and confusion can the catharsis occur. There is hope, there is another side for those left behind, and for “The Child in Time” it is hard won, but builds to this conclusion deliberately and beautifully.

”The Child in Time” premieres on Sunday, April 1 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS ’ “Masterpiece.”

Review: The Child in Time

By Mancunion

Article Summary

The BBC1 adaption of Ian McEwan’s 1987 novel A Child in Time follows Stephen Lewis (Benedict Cumberbatch), a children’s author, who loses his four-year-old daughter Kate in a supermarket never to be seen again. The 90-minute drama pivots between the lives of Stephen and his wife Julie (Kelly MacDonald) immediately after the tragic event and three years on.

A Child in Time follows the separate journeys of grief Stephen and Julie experience after the disappearance of their daughter. Cumberbatch and MacDonald demonstrate this with ease, at first the sheer horror and desperation between the two searching for their daughter which is then followed by bitterness and anger, and eventually the downfall of their marriage once blame is ascribed.

Rather than donning a deerstalker or playing an extraordinary superhero Cumberbatch portrays an ordinary man riddled with guilt and grief who has been flung into a perpetual state of searching. His performance is so raw and gut wrenching you are clearly reminded why Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the best actors of his generation.

Kelly MacDonald is fantastic in her role of Julie, she is sometimes cool but never not caring. Her exploration of grief is something to be applauded, especially her darker days of anger, desperation, and ultimately leaving.

There are moments within the drama which quicken the heart rate and make a lump form in the throat of any viewer – parent or not. A particular one for me is the sign Stephen leaves on his door saying he’ll be home soon whenever he leaves, even if it’s just for a moment, just in case Kate in her yellow rain coat returns.

A Child in Time does an exceptional job of highlighting the horror in everyday life. Especially in terms of sound. The deafening silence which follows Stephen and Julie in their homes is suffocating, the chatter and check out bleep of the supermarket as Stephen’s world falls apart is cruel and uncaring. The drama highlights that although your world may be collapsing time still moves on indiscriminately.

There is a scene in which Stephen travels home to visit his parents, he mentions in passing that he visited Julie to which both of his parents, especially his father emphasises that he thinks of her often after all that she’s been through. I found it very interesting that it came across that he didn’t share the same empathy for his own son, despite him still going through the same process, as if, like Julie did in the wrath of grief, he too blames his son.

The drama explores childhood on three levels: the trauma of two parents losing their child, a man who feels robbed of his childhood and is desperately searching for it once more, and finally, the government’s intervention in child development.

Between the three the narrative itself is lucidly laced with the day dreams of Stephen and his Mother, everywhere he goes he thinks of her and catches glimpses of her, at first always out of reach but as the drama progresses always close to hand. He’s missing her, but more importantly, still continuing to love her.

Stephen Campbell Moore plays Stephen’s friend Charles who retires from his position in the government to up sticks and move to the country side with his wife, Thelma (Saskia Reeves).

Charles is desperately longing to be a child again. This is revealed rather abruptly, Charles is running full force, arms spread wide open, towards his den in the woods. His actions sudden, hungry, and uncontrollable – not those associated with a man who’s just retired.

Stephen Campbell Moore gives a standout performance in this role. The balance between the mature middle aged man and the cheeky child he longs to be is heart breaking. He has the ability of embodying the boy he longs to be but immediately switches back to the middle aged man talking to his friend, even if it’s only for a moment.

Amongst the grief I feel it’s a tale of growing up and accepting responsibility, the lost responsibility of no longer having a child, but the sense of responsibility and guilt they are burdened with, the responsibilities Charles has hampered away but is still conscious of and tormented by, and arguably the responsibility of Thelma as Charles’ wife. I feel they could have done more with the character of Thelma, however her sheer love for her husband was truly heart breaking.

Stephen finds his friend, a grown man in his school uniform, hanging nalone in the woods. That moment which will dry out the throat of anyone watching once you realise how desperately unhappy Charles must have been tormented by what he longs to be but constantly reminded of what he ought to be.

A Child in Time had the potential of being utterly miserable but instead is a tale of endurance and ultimately hope. A must see.

benedict cumberbatch
Kelly MacDonald
responsibility
Saskia Reeves
Stephen Campbell Moore
The Child in Time

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The Child in Time

Where to Watch

Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Lewis) Kelly Macdonald (Julie) Stephen Campbell Moore (Charles) Saskia Reeves (Thelma) Andrea Hall (Policewoman) Jim Creighton (Male Neighbour) Beatrice White (Kate) Rosa-Marie Lewis (Shop Assistant) Franc Ashman (Lydia Webb) Anna Madeley (Rachel Murray)

Julian Farino

The life of a children's book author is turned upside down when his daughter goes missing.

Recommendations

'The Child in Time' Recap

Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald in "The Child in Time" (Photo: Courtesy of Pinewood Television, SunnyMarch TV and MASTERPIECE for BBC One and MASTERPIECE)

The Child In Time MASTERPIECE on PBS Sunday, April 1 at 9pm ET In an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s award-winning 1987 novel by the same name, Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald star as the grieving parents of a missing little girl. Set two years after the girl’s disappearance, the film explores the dark territory of a marriage devastated, the loss of childhood, the fluidity of time, grief, hope and acceptance. Shown from left to right: Kelly Macdonald as Julie Lewis and Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Lewis For editorial use only. No third party rights granted. Courtesy of Pinewood Television, SunnyMarch TV and MASTERPIECE for BBC One and MASTERPIECE

WARNING: Use of this copyright image is subject to the terms of use of BBC Pictures' Digital Picture Service (BBC Pictures) as s

The Child in Time is one of those dramas that doesn’t turn out to be quite the story you think it is. On the surface, it’s a tale about a lost child. But, it also isn’t, in the most basic sense. The drama isn’t about the search for the missing Kate and it (spoiler alert!) offers little resolution about what happened to her. Her parents (spoiler alert, again!) don’t get her back. There’s no happy ending. She remains forever apart, both present and absent, a Schroedinger’s cat of a girl who is somehow both alive and dead for the purposes of this narrative. If you were looking for a crime thriller, a dramatic mystery or even a linear story that makes sense, you’re surely bound to be disappointed here.

Instead, The Child in Time is a meditation on loss and grief, telling the story of what it takes to move past the worst thing that’s ever happened to you. In short: It’s kind of a lot for an evening on Easter Sunday, though those that stick through it may find the performances contained within worthwhile. (Or, at least, I did.) The acting is top notch and the emotions feel gut-wrenchingly real. However, if you find yourself wishing the story perhaps spent a bit more time on Kate herself or the particulars behind her disappearance rather than the gamut of British political thought about child rearing or a weirdo subplot about a grown man’s descent into what appears to be childlike madness, trust me, you’re not alone.

The story of The Child in Time opens with a terrible loss, and it closes with the idea that survival – even renewal – is possible. Along the way, however, you’re likely to feel rather confused, as the narrative ricochets back and forth through time and keeps veering off to focus on a set of bizarre secondary characters or debate the meaning of childhood. In the end, the story probably would have been better served not only by a more linear narrative, but a clearer focus. Whenever The Child in Time centers on Stephen, his wife Julie or their relationship in the wake of their daughter’s disappearance, it’s riveting, gut-wrenching stuff. It’s just that there’s so much of everything else , and that all tends to gravitate toward the confusing or dull. It’s a mixed bag, this story, and I’m probably not the only one who doesn’t quite know how to feel about it. (To be honest: I want to like it. I just…don’t think that I do.)

The series opens with its most gripping segment, as Stephen Lewis, a children’s author and devoted father, loses track of his daughter while shopping in a local supermarket. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare and Benedict Cumberbatch conveys the anguish and panic of the moment with what feels like horrifying accuracy. Within the first ten minutes of the story, we must watch Stephen realize his child is missing, frantically beg a surrounding crowd for the slightest hint of a girl in a yellow coat, and then resolutely break the news to his wife (the generally phenomenal Kelly Macdonald ) that their daughter is gone. Not just that she's gone, but that he has, in the strictest sense, lost her.

The Child in Time is at its most effective when it focuses on the story’s grieving parents. It conveys the despair, rage and guilt each feels effortlessly and manages to show us the ultimate dissolution of their relationship without having to explain each step. Of course Stephen feels guilty and responsible. And you can really fault Julie for blaming her husband for Kate’s disappearance – after all, he left the house with her, and came back without her. None of these emotions are necessarily correct or fair, but they feel reasonable and understandable. As the story unspools and three years pass, it even makes a certain amount of sense that the two would be drawn back together, as the problems in their marriage never seemed to have much to do with their feelings for one another. As Stephen and Julie tentatively rekindle their relationship – he visits her oceanside cottage, she begins teaching him to play piano – it’s hard not to root for the two of them to work things out, since we’re (nearly simultaneously) watching them lose everything.

However, The Child in Time doesn’t spend as much time as it probably should on Stephen and Julie’s relationship in the years following Kate’s disappearance. Instead, the story expands to include a political angle that pretty much zero people asked for. Somehow, Stephen’s role as a celebrated children’s author has earned him a spot on some kind of government committee related to childcare. Why this should be so is an utter mystery as, besides writing books aimed at children and at one point having had a child himself, Stephen appears to have little in the way of professional qualifications on this issue. All I can say is I hope that J.K. Rowling is on some sort of government board somewhere if all it takes to influence child policy in England is literary success.

Benedict Cumberbatch in "The Child in Time" (Photo: Courtesy of Pinewood Television, SunnyMarch TV and MASTERPIECE for BBC One and MASTERPIECE)

The Child in Time’s other major subplot involves Stephen’s best friend Charles Darke. A junior government minister who’s just written some kind of – presumably horrible – parody novel, Charles is nevertheless somehow important enough that the Prime Minister himself is concerned when he starts having what appears to be a massive mental breakdown. (The PM even asks Stephen himself to see to Charles and his condition, because I guess the head of the British government doesn’t have access to, oh, mental health professionals, or anything like that.)

At any rate, Charles appears to be suffering from some kind of delusion which causes him to see himself as a child again – or at least behave as one. We’re treated to multiple scenes of Charles hiding out in his adult tree fort, wearing ragged clothes and drinking what appears to be his own urine out of bottles he keeps handy. And for some reason his wife just…supports all of this! I know that my reaction probably shouldn’t have been to laugh when Thelma when outside to call her husband inside at the end of the day by flicking the back porch light on an off, but I couldn’t help myself. I have no idea what I’m supposed to take away from this part of the story at all .

I’m told that the novel The Child in Time is based on uses these characters as sort of a basis to explore larger fantastical issues like the fluidity of time itself or something like that, but man, this show does not do that at all. Maybe I’m supposed to extrapolate that Charles’ regression into childhood is some kind of metaphor for the struggle within all of us against the suffocating blanket of adulthood, but why? Why is the point not that this man needs some therapy and a strong dose of Prozac? What is this story even trying to say? (I’m serious, someone explain all this to me in the comments. Because I feel lost .)

Kelly Macdonald in "The Child in Time" (Photo: Courtesy of Pinewood Television, SunnyMarch TV and MASTERPIECE for BBC One and MASTERPIECE)

In the midst of all this, Stephen is still seeing visions of his daughter everywhere, and at one point even goes so far as to follow a little girl into a school, convinced she’s his missing child. It’s only after an incredibly awkward conversation with the school faculty that he realizes she isn’t, and breaks down crying. Cumberbatch, it must be said, is a horrendously ugly crier, but I appreciate that he just leans into the raw emotion, complete with snot and full body sobs. By the time we get to the point where Stephen is sending his daughter messages using a walkie talkie set from a Christmas gift pile she wasn’t around to see, we’re all sniffling too.

Despite these powerful individual moments, which really play up the pain and yearning of a parent who has lost everything, the ending of The Child in Time isn’t entirely satisfying. As previously mentioned, we never find out what happened to Kate, and neither do her parents. Instead, they just go on, in both a literal and figurative fashion. Because Julie, as it turns out, is pregnant.

To be honest, this story – Julie’s pregnancy and her decision to have another child with Stephen in the first place – would have been roughly 100 times more interesting than watching multiple scenes of Charles playing imaginary cops and robbers and eventually hanging himself (why??) in the woods, but alas, here’s where the story ends, with the knowledge that it simply goes on. Life goes on. The Lewises have a son together, Julie refers to Stephen openly as her husband to the nurses – implying, I assume, that their relationship will also get something of a fresh start as well. But, nothing’s confirmed and it’s all a bit choose your own adventure in the end. Which isn’t a bad metaphor for life, all things considered, but personally I’d prefer my dramas to make a little more sense.

What did you think of The Child in Time ? Let’s discuss.

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Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB.

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The Child In Time review

The BBC adaptation of Ian McEwan’s The Child In Time is a sensitively told story about resilience. Spoilers ahead…

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This review contains spoilers.

“Keep breathing”. The final words from Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in A Child In Time are a summary of its message. Through trauma and though loss, the film urges, keep going. Keep breathing.

When their three year old daughter Kate goes missing from a busy supermarket, central characters Stephen and Julie (Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald) suffer the kind of loss from which recovery seems impossible. Kate is never found and her fate is never told. She spends the film both alive and dead, a presence and an absence.

The Child In Time though, isn’t Kate’s story; it’s Stephen’s. And it’s resolutely a story about emotional resilience, not child abduction. In the years following Kate’s disappearance, Julie and Stephen fall apart and rebuild themselves separately, coming together in the film’s last moments with the symbolic birth of their unexpected second child, Kate’s brother.

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Aptly for a story about the oddities of time, the film flits back and forth along Stephen’s timeline, starting with the most devastating moment in the aftermath of Kate’s disappearance, jolting forward to years later, then back and forward again. We see Stephen’s flat empty, then filled with trinkets and life, then empty, then full. The chronology play prepares us for the story’s more unusual elements – a moment of what seems to be time travel outside a coastal pub, and Julie and Stephen’s respective sightings of their unborn son as a boy on the beach and on the London underground.

Stephen Butchard ( The Last Kingdom , Vincent ) has done a sensitive job adapting Ian McEwan’s 1987 book, a literary novel that doesn’t scream out its suitability as a Sunday night drama. A caustic social satire and exploration of time wrapped around domestic trauma, the novel has less plot and more theoretical physics than we’re used to seeing in this slot. Whatever the trailers might have suggested, a missing child thriller it isn’t.

Butchard hasn’t chucked out the book’s curiosities, but chiselled them down so they fit inside ninety minutes. He and director Julian Farino ( Marvellous, Entourage ) have included comic elements of McEwan’s political lampoon, and the aforementioned moments pointing towards a larger mysticism at work behind the scenes. Not all of it coalesces, but the result thankfully isn’t—as adaptations of tricky novels can often be—bland.

At the forefront is Stephen’s emotional trek from devastation to cautious rebirth. It’s a story that leans heavily on Cumberbatch, and one he handles well. He’s very sympathetic as Stephen – funny and sad with an endearingly British repertoire of swearwords. As romantic leads, he and Macdonald (natural as air, like always) are tender without being sentimental. You like them and want them to pull through.

Stephen’s friendship with Charles and Thelma, who start off as his ersatz parents (“Who’s going to look after me?”) and end up something much trickier to parse, also shows him in a good light. When Charles (Stephen Campbell Moore) retreats into a complicated fantasy life as a pre-pubescent child, Stephen is exasperated but patient. More patient still is Thelma (Saskia Reeves, whose thoughtful performance sells this very odd situation), who waits for her husband to come out of his regression, but has to bury him before he does.

It’s unnerving how fully Campbell Moore commits to Charles’ humorous schoolboy scenes. His smile, his excitement, his lope… he becomes a forty-year-old child and it’s unsettling to see, much more so than if it were simply a kink playing out in a brothel somewhere. When we’re first introduced to him as a big-shot at dinner, flashes of childish behaviour—blowing a raspberry, getting excited about jam roly-poly—hint at what’s to come. As his own ‘child in time’, Charles’ story is almost as sad as Stephen and Julie’s. Sadder, perhaps, because they keep going while his exuberance comes to an abrupt stop.

It’s a mournful film, but a hopeful one, like its simple piano and string score. The script is earnest, and keeps mawkishness at bay with a sense of humour. “Perhaps he’s taken an anti-twat pill,” says Stephen’s dad showing enjoyably healthy disdain for authority. The comic moments cut through what could have been a suffocatingly sad hour and a half.

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Survival is the thematic thrust. As Julie matter-of-factly tells Stephen, “A bad thing happened and we’ve got to live with it”. That’s what we watch them do, Julie through isolation and Stephen through magical thinking and Julie’s help. He learns how to keep loving his daughter even though she’s not there. She’s somewhere, the film suggests, in time, existing and not existing, all ages and none. (We mentioned McEwan’s thing for quantum physics didn’t we?)

An unusual film, then, likely to frustrate anyone expecting a resolution to Kate’s disappearance but rewarding for its performances and the comforting trust it places in human resilience.

Louisa Mellor | @Louisa_Mellor

Louisa Mellor is the Den of Geek UK TV Editor. She has written about TV, film and books for Den of Geek since 2010, and for…

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The Child in Time

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987

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Common sense media reviewers.

Sci-fi thriller has violence, sexuality, language.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The idea that time is precious is a good message f

At times, Will is a good role model: He's a lo

Plenty of shootings (some at close range, though t

Will and Sylvia hook up pretty quickly; they flirt

Occasional use of words like "s--t," &qu

Adults drink wine, champagne, and hard liquor at s

Positive Messages

The idea that time is precious is a good message for all, as is the notion that no one should ever die so that someone else can become richer. But the movie's moral is muddied by the main characters' inconsistent behavior. How can they judge who merits the time and who doesn't? Still, despite their dire situation, Will and his mother love each other unconditionally and are always willing to spare some time for each other and those who are even less fortunate.

Positive Role Models

At times, Will is a good role model: He's a loving son, a generous man, and a good friend. His mother is also a sweet and kind woman who gives her son time she can't really spare. The manager of the local mission gives most of his time away to the needier, and even Sylvia grows to understand the plight of the timeless.

Violence & Scariness

Plenty of shootings (some at close range, though there's little blood); one suicide. Most people die when their countdown clock hits zero, and this can happen to anyone -- particularly the poor -- at any time if they can't find someone to give or lend them some extra time until their next time-paying job. The dead are shown peppered throughout the streets; in one heartbreaking scene, two characters miss being reunited by a second, and it's just long enough for one to die in the other's arms. Those who do have more than enough time can still die if someone steals their time or if they're injured beyond repair in an accident, by a gun shot, etc. Most of the characters who die in the movie have their "clocks cleared," although a few are shot.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Will and Sylvia hook up pretty quickly; they flirt and go skinny dipping (her nude bottom is shown under the water) before they even have their first kiss. Later, after their first passionate kiss, they end up staying together and making out. They play strip poker on a bed, and Sylvia is obviously losing -- she's down to her lace bra and panties. There's no actual love scene, though, since the couple is interrupted before they can go all the way (although it's clear they've done so off camera). In other scenes, a prostitute propositions a cop and rich women wear tight, revealing outfits.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Occasional use of words like "s--t," "ass," "damn," and "hell," as well as one memorable "f--k" (said as "un-f--king-believable." "God" and "Jesus"-based exclamations are said several times as well.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults drink wine, champagne, and hard liquor at social events, a bar, and in private. Will's best friend (literally) drinks himself to death by using all of his bonus "time" on alcohol.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this sci-fi adventure features a fair bit of violence, twentysomething sexuality, and heavy themes about social equality and injustice that may not be appropriate for tweens interested in seeing a Justin Timberlake movie. Language includes one "f--k," as well as "s--t," "damn," "ass"; violent scenes feature close-range shootings (mostly bloodless), people dropping dead when their clocks reach zero, and one suicide. Sex is implied rather than shown, but there's a skinny-dipping scene with a glimpse of a nude bottom, as well as strip poker and some skimpy lingerie. There's a Robin Hood-esque theme to the second half of the movie, but it's wrapped around a shallower Bonnie-and-Clyde vibe of "let's have fun robbing from the rich." Despite the movie's mixed messages, one lesson is loud and clear: Don't waste your time. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parents say (12)
Kids say (43)

Based on 12 parent reviews

It was good

What's the story.

Will Salas ( Justin Timberlake ) lives in a futuristic world in which everyone ages until 25 -- and then, the instant they hit that milestone, their internal clock is turned on like a glowing counter on their forearms, and they must work to earn each additional minute, hour, and year of their lives. Will and his mother, Rachel ( Olivia Wilde ), live in Dayton, the "poor" time zone in which everyone lives minute to minute; one night, after Will helps a wealthy man flee the zone's biggest time thief, the mysterious rich fellow explains how the rich are immortal, while the poor die in the streets. He then gives Will 116 years before committing suicide. Left with more time than anyone in his zone, Will flees to the far posher zone of New Greenwich, where businessmen like Philippe Weis ( Vincent Kartheiser ) are so time-rich that their wives wear gloves so as not to flaunt their millennia. Wanted by the head Timekeeper ( Cillian Murphy ), Will narrowly escapes the zone with Philippe's daughter, Sylvia ( Amanda Seyfried ), as his hostage. The two embark on a mission to redistribute time and expose the system's injustice.

Is It Any Good?

The first half of IN TIME is stylish and original and offers just enough action and punny time jokes to be genuinely entertaining without being over the top. Parading an all-star cast of talented actors, led by the always charismatic Timberlake, the movie is by turns a thriller, a treatise on the unfair distribution of wealth, and a Bonnie and Clyd e-meets- Robin Hood caper. Parts are particularly poignant, like a gut-wrenching sequence in which Rachel is running as fast as she can to meet Will before she times out, or when Will sweetly gives his best friend ( Johnny Galecki ) a decade in tribute to their 10 years of friendship.

But once Will and Sylvia hook up to free the time, the movie's many flaws emerge to bog the action down in unanswered questions. Will's dead father's name is brought up several times, but it's never exactly clear why he was such a revolutionary hero. It's also uncertain when or how the time system started -- if it's a genetic alteration introduced in a dystopian future or something created to keep the masses in slave-like conditions. Some of the relationships, especially Sylvia's with her parents, are especially one-dimensional (it's ludicrous that one of the richest men in the world wouldn't give away time for his one and only daughter). Director Andrew Niccol gets points for the movie's fascinating premise and the exciting cast, but he should have done a better job of sustaining the cool concept and tightening up loose ends. This is one of those entertaining-enough sci-fi movies that it's best not to overthink, or else your time will feel wasted.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's sci-fi themes. Why are futuristic storylines so compelling to audiences? Is this vision of the future a positive one or a cautionary tale? Can you think of other movies with futures that seem better to live in than this time-obsessed one?

How do the filmmakers cleverly use "time" to replace wealth in the story? Pick out a few examples of how characters literally mean it when they say "I'm out of time," or "have a minute?"

How is the movie's message of wealth distribution and injustice relevant today?

Movie Details

In theaters : October 28, 2011
On DVD or streaming : January 31, 2012
Cast : Amanda Seyfried , Justin Timberlake , Olivia Wilde
Director : Andrew Niccol
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Twentieth Century Fox
Genre : Science Fiction
Run time : 109 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : violence, some sexuality and partial nudity, and brief strong language
Last updated : March 14, 2024

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‘IF’ Review: John Krasinski’s Ryan Reynolds-Starring Children’s Tale Has a Classical Look, but Messy World-Building

Despite a star-studded voice cast and a terrific lead in Cailey Fleming, this big-hearted animation-live action hybrid doesn’t feel magical like the Pixar films it aspires to emulate.

By Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly

‘IF’ Review: John Krasinski’s Ryan Reynolds-Starring Children’s Tale Has a Classical Look, but Messy World-Building 4 days ago
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John Krasinski proudly makes movies for and about the whole family. Maybe his vastly successful “A Quiet Place” franchise, with all its screechy monsters, is too much for youngsters to handle. But there’s still an undeniable, innocent loveliness to those movies, with warm moments that lean closely into the bonds of an adoring family that only grow stronger in the face of danger and despair.

Popular on Variety

Naturally, Bea joins them too and finds herself at a Coney Island retirement community for all discarded IFs that only she can see. (This superpower of hers feels easier to accept than a 12-year-old kid taking the subway all over New York City, without the knowledge of her grandmother and father.) And once at the center, we realize we are witnessing perhaps the most star-studded ensemble cast of the year, with the IFs voiced by the likes of Louis Gossett Jr., Matt Damon, Maya Rudolph, Emily Blunt, Bradley Cooper, Jon Stewart, Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, George Clooney and more.(There appears to be no shortage of A-listers who want to have some fun with Krasinski.)

This remarkable lineup of actors aside, the animated IFs never quite impress, enlighten or entertain us enough, even when they launch into an adorable song-and-dance number. Elsewhere, Bea’s regular trips to the hospital to visit his spirited dad (during which we get to meet Alan Kim’s adorable Benjamin) always feel like an uncomfortable afterthought. Krasinski’s concept borrows generously from Pixar films like “Monsters Inc.,” but is so chaotic and half-considered that you don’t feel as inspired as you should be, making it hard to submit to the film’s alternate reality.

The film asks its audience to use unreasonable sums of imagination to decipher why on earth, for instance, a child’s imaginary friend would be an ice-cube in a half-full water glass (Cooper), or an impulsive spy-like figure (Christopher Meloni) or a giant gummy bear (Amy Schumer), next to some of the more credible ones like a teddy bear or a unicorn. Not to mention Bea’s very own (and heavily signposted) IF — once it’s finally revealed, it’s a particular head-scratcher. It’s almost as if some imaginary figures were conceived with little consideration for their narrative purpose, and baked into the script just because they felt cool as ideas. Like many of the film’s attempts at humor, the animated characters fall flat, in desperate need of some coherent world-building.

That’s too bad, because “IF” does have a classical look and feel to its visuals, an old-school and big-hearted quality sorely missed in cinema aimed at younger viewers these days. Everything from the magical lens of frequent Steven Spielberg DP Janusz Kamiński to Jess Gonchor’s opulent production design and Michael Giacchino’s disarmingly melancholic score beg for a film with as much writerly finesse to rise to the occasion. If only.

Reviewed at Regal Union Square, New York City, May 14, 2024. Running time: 104 MIN.

Production: A Paramount Pictures release of a Sunday Night and Maximum Effort production. Producers: Allyson Seeger, John Krasinski, Andrew Form, Ryan Reynolds. Executive producers: John J. Kelly, George Dewey, Kimberly Nelson LoCascio.
Crew: Director, screenplay: John Krasinski. Camera: Janusz Kamiński. Editors: Andy Canny, Christopher Rouse. Music: Michael Giacchino.
With: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Alan Kim, Liza Colón-Zayas, Steve Carell.

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‘IF’ Review: Childhood Wonder Succumbs To Deep Melodrama In John Krasinski’s Latest Film

By Valerie Complex

Valerie Complex

Associate Editor/Film Writer

‘The Office’ Stars John Krasinski And Steve Carell Ham It Up In ‘IF’ Promo

‘IF’ Trailer: Old Friends Hit The Screen In New Fantasy Film From John Krasinski Starring Ryan Reynolds & Steve Carell

Her life takes an unexpected turn when she encounters Blossom (Waller-Bridge), a furry purple creature named Blue (Carell), and Calvin (Reynolds), who leads her on an adventure that reveals a hidden world of imaginary friends at Coney Island. The group connects with Lewis (Gossett), a brown, vintage teddy bear who at 98 is the reigning oldest imaginary friend. With Lewis’ help, Bea, Cal and Blue have to find a way to connect all of the imaginary friends with new children before they disappear from existence.

The film’s casts deliver strong performances, with Fleming standing out as Bea, portraying a blend of youthful innocence and maturity to deal with the often serious themes of the film. Reynolds has a distinct performance style, but his talents as a physical actor often go underappreciated. He isn’t afraid to look silly or contort his body to serve a story, making him one of Hollywood’s best in the realm of physical acting.

However, while Krasinski excels in visual creativity, his script lacks the engaging depth needed to sustain interest. The film’s narrative, although imaginative, doesn’t captivate fully, rendering it a somewhat dull experience despite its fantastical elements as it stumbles over its own narrative weight. IF ‘s melodramatic tone often feels overwrought, detracting from its whimsical core. Moreover, certain plot elements strain credibility, such as Bea’s solo escapades across New York City, or her bursting into the men’s bathroom in a highly guarded building in the middle of Rockefeller Center, all of which feels more implausible than adventurous. These logistical missteps disrupt the suspension of disbelief crucial for a children’s fantasy film.

IF serves as a testament to the power of imagination, but it also highlights the necessity of a strong narrative to support even the most creative ideas. Despite its charms, the film’s saccharine sweetness and slow pace render it a less engaging experience than it aspires to be. It’s wasn’t enough to keep my attention, let alone that of a child, for 104 minutes.

Title: IF Distributor: Paramount Release date: May 17, 2024 Director-screenwriter: John Krasinski Cast: John Krasinski, Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming, Fiona Shaw, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Steve Carell, Louis Gossett Jr. Rating: PG Running time: 1 hr 44 min

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Summer 2024 Family Film Preview: Garfield, Despicable Me 4, and more

I t’s been a rough few months for parents wanting to take their children to the movies. The choices have been few and far between, and what’s been streaming on TV hasn’t been much better. But summer is the time when it all changes: movies are back, baby, and that means you can relax in the AC for a few hours with some popcorn and your kids quietly by your side once again.

…Well, sort of. There’s still not a lot of kids movies in theaters, which is frankly kind of wild since horror and family movies are pretty much the only reliable ways to get people in movie theaters. But even the ol’ reliable, Marvel Studios, is going super-adult with the R-Rated Deadpool & Wolverine . The kids will definitely want to check that out, but we here at The Parent Watch can’t in good conscience recommend that on a Family Film Preview.

That said, there are a few options coming up before Labor Day rolls around again, so let’s get into it. Here are the films you’ll want to check out in theaters this summer – and we threw a streaming movie or two on here anyway, because the pickings are slim.

Release Date: May 17, 2024

In theaters today, John Krasinski directs and writes for an all-star cast led by Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming. The movie focuses on “IFs” - imaginary friends, who are just looking for a kid to pal around with. Warning: this gets more morose and sad than you might expect.

Thelma The Unicorn

On Netflix today, this delightful animated film focuses on a pony who pretends to be a unicorn in order to become a pop star. Naturally, it all goes wrong.

The Garfield Movie

Release Date: May 24, 2024

The original fat cat – Chris Pratt – is back in theaters with a brand new animated movie. This time around, he’s going to eat lasagna, be mean to Jon Arbuckle and Odie, and mail Nermal to Abu Dhabi, just to really shake things up.

Jim Henson Idea Man

Release Date: May 31, 2024

On Disney+, this documentary includes never before seen footage of the Muppets creator to delve into the man behind the felt. It’s directed by Ron Howard, and just be prepared for your kids to ask “daddy, why are you crying?”

Inside Out 2

Release Date: June 14, 2024

Riley is growing up and entering puberty, and that means new emotions! As she navigates school and friendships (and maybe romance?) the older emotions have to deal with a new adventure inside her head.

Despicable Me 4

Release Date: July 3, 2024

After various spinoffs and prequels, we’re back with the yellow, banana loving Minions, Gru and his kids for a new adventure. Will Ferrell is the new villain this time out, Maxime Le Mal.

The Neverending Story 40th Anniversary

Release Date: July 21 and 22, 2024

The fantasy film that gave millions of kids nightmares in the ‘80s is back for a two night engagement this July! Set in a magical land being destroyed by the “Nothing,” a boy reading a story and an adventurer may have to work together to save the entire world. Return to the Swamp of Sadness, once again!

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Release Date: August 2, 2024

Zachary Levi plays Harold, the kid with the magical purple crayon, all grown up. I’m not sure why this is the third movie where Levi plays a child in a man’s body, but there you go, typecasting at its finest.

Coraline (3-D Re-Release)

Release Date: August 14 and 15, 2024

Laika’s creepy stop-motion adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s classic children’s book gets a 3-D re-release this summer, and I for one am not looking forward to those button-eyed monsters staring directly at me. But maybe your kids are?

This article was originally published on theparentwatch.com as Summer 2024 Family Film Preview: Garfield, Despicable Me 4, and more .

Cast & crew
User reviews

Matt Damon, Ryan Reynolds, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Awkwafina, and Cailey Fleming in IF (2024)

A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone's imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up. A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone's imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up. A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone's imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up.

John Krasinski
Cailey Fleming
Ryan Reynolds
70 User reviews
92 Critic reviews
48 Metascore

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Trivia In a recent interview with ET, Carell expressed his excitement for his upcoming reunion with his Office co-star. The actor admitted that he has yet to start filming Imaginary Friends, but is full of anticipation for the opportunity to work with Krasinski again saying, "Well, I haven't started working on the film with him yet, but I can't wait. I'm anticipating just joy and fun. I mean, he's the best, and he's a great director. I'll put him through his paces, you know? I'll make him work for it. I might be one of those persnickety actors that doesn't always agree, or won't come out of my trailer. You think you hired somebody that is a friend, but you got that wrong!"

Cal : What if I told you imaginary friends are real? And when they're kids grow up, they're forgotten.

Crazy credits The Paramount Pictures logo is animated in the style of a children's drawing.
Connections Featured in The Project: Episode dated 15 May 2024 (2024)

User reviews 70

May 12, 2024

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When was IF released? Powered by Alexa
May 17, 2024 (United States)
United States
Official Site
Untitled Ryan Reynolds/John Krasinski Film
Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA (location)
Paramount Pictures
Maximum Effort
Platinum Dunes
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$35,000,000
May 19, 2024
$59,000,000

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Runtime 1 hour 44 minutes
Dolby Digital
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12-Track Digital Sound
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The 13 Worst Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked According to Rotten Tomatoes

Oh, the terror! ...And not in a good way.

Right now, audiences are living in a golden age of horror. "Elevated horror" has been on the rise for nearly a decade, and over the past year or two, it's become apparent that the beloved slasher movie is back with a vengeance. Also, as has always been the case, the reality is there are a ton of terrible horror films out there. Then, now, and forever.

Horror movies are cheap to produce and infamously profitable, so they're churned out incessantly. So it makes sense that a relatively high ratio is pure junk. According to critics on Rotten Tomatoes, these are the absolute worst horror movies ever made , ranging from woefully lame and uneventful action horror films such as House of the Dead to lifeless Hollywood J-Horror remake One Missed Call .

13 'Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey' (2023)

Rotten tomatoes score: 3%.

One of the more infamous horror movies and so-bad-it's-good movies of the modern era (though some argue it's just plain bad) Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is the first in what's sure to be an era of uninspired IP mining. The crudely animated opening (the best part of the movie by a mile) lays the premise: After Christopher Robin abandons his childhood friends (you know, the plus novelties), Eeyore is devoured by the others as they're on the verge of starvation. Henceforth, the

Many will tell you there is no enjoyment to be found here, that Blood and Honey is just irredeemable trash. Not so! So long as you're in the mood for a formulaic, shameless slasher movie that looks like it cost hundreds of dollars to make, it's an artistically bankrupt, ironic good time. A sequel followed one year later to more positive, though overall still negative critical notices.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

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After Christopher Robin abandons them for college, Pooh and Piglet embark on a bloody rampage as they search for a new source of food.

12 'House of the Dead' (2003)

Uwe Boll will make more than one appearance on this list (and possibly many, many "worst" lists). One of his most maligned movies is this early-aughts adaptation of the rail shooter arcade game of the same name, which somehow feels less substantial than its source material. The movie illustrates a fictional island infested by zombies that forces its survivors to fight for a way out. Things go south when a group of college students travel to the mysterious island to attend a rave.

House of the Dead is most infamous for playing video game footage over its (headache-inducing, flatly staged) action sequences , surely one of the most remarkably lazy directing calls on record. It's overall not a good zombie film , and it will surely (at least according to Rotten Tomatoes critics, anyway) go down as one of the worst in the genre.

House of the Dead

11 'the apparition' (2012).

A solid cast including Ashley Greene , Sebastian Stan and Tom Felton have nothing to work with in an ostensibly spooky thriller that's about as non-threatening and meh as its title. Greene and Stan play a couple plagued by a mysterious, parasitic presence in their home. It's an unoriginal, downright derivative premise to begin with, and to make matters worse the ending was fully spoiled in the trailer.

Director Todd Lincoln was at one point reportedly in talks to direct a remake of revered horror tale The Fly . It's not much of a challenge to speculate The Apparition ' s critical pummeling and paltry $6.4 million worldwide box-office gross contributed to that not happening.

The Apparition

10 'feardotcom' (2002).

The uncertainty of the cyber world lends itself to terror (the Unfriended movies and especially Host mined this pretty well), and in 2002 it felt like the perfect time to jump on that. This William Malone movie follows detective Mike Reilly ( Stephen Dorff ) and Department of Health researcher Terry Huston ( Natascha McElhone ) as they team up to uncover the cause behind four inexplicable deaths.

Unfortunately, aside from fleeting moments of stylishness, Feardotcom is ugly, blandly gruesome — and worse, boring. Although the dialogues are relatively bad and the editing is questionable, Malone's film's worst sin is arguably a total waste of brilliant character actors : Stephen Dorff , Natascha McElhone , Udo Kier and The Crying Game 's Stephen Rea all have nothing to do, and appear flat-out lost.

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9 'Bless the Child' (2000)

Rotten tomatoes score: 4%.

None of this is on Kim Basinger . Just three short years after the icon and oft-brilliant actress won an Academy Award for a resplendent turn in L.A Confidential , Basinger appeared in this hot mess about child abduction, devil worshipers, and terrible special effects. It leans most heavily into the latter.

Bless The Child emerged from a millennium-themed era where movies studios churned out uninspired end-of-the-world stuff constantly. You'll remember Bless the Child about as well as you remember End of Days. Don't remember that one, or at least had to be reminded of it? Exactly. Nothing about Bless the Child stands out, except maybe just how generic it is.

Bless the Child

8 'the haunting of molly hartley' (2008), rotten tomatoes score: 2%.

Featuring stiff acting and, regrettably, a forgettable premise, the supernatural horror film The Haunting of Molly Hartley is about a young woman's family's pact with Satan, romantic rivalries, and actors who definitely aren't teens playing teens who like to party. Despite its critical failure, it was a mild commercial success.

Long before roles in films like Thank You For Your Service , Cyrano , and Swallow garnered the talented actress critical acclaim, Haley Bennett starred in this oh-so-aughts, punishingly lame PG-13 horror flick opposite hunky Chace Crawford , the lone draw at the time whose star was on the rise thanks to Gossip Girl . The Haunting of Molly Hartley looks shot for TV, and it's about as scary as a toothpaste commercial . This is a "horror" movie aimed at tweens.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley

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7 'Alone in the Dark' (2005)

Rotten tomatoes score: 1%.

Starring Christian Slater in the lead role, Alone in the Dark is an action horror sci-fi that follows a paranormal investigator who uncovers a long-lost tribe called the Abskani. After discovering that they worshiped demons and these evil creatures are now attempting to break loose on the face of the earth, Edward must run against time to stop them with the help of archeologist Aline Cedrac ( Tara Reid ).

Uwe Boll's $20 million-budgeted (that seems modest, but the movie looks way cheaper) video-game adaptation is often ranked among the worst films of all time, a standout among the filmmaker's less-than-critically-adored pantheon. Slater and Reid have negative chemistry, and the action scenes are stunningly inept. Alone in the Dark is astonishingly lacking , so it's no wonder why it is often considered one of the worst horror movies of all time.

Alone in the Dark

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6 'Beneath the Darkness' (2011)

Rotten tomatoes score: 0%.

In addition to having about as generic a horror title as one can fathom, the Texas-set Beneath the Darkness stars Dennis Quaid , Tony Oller , and Aimee Teegarden in a derivative teen thriller plot about a murder and a cover-up. Furthermore, probably due to its unengaging premise that leaves out much to be desired, this 2011 flick was also a box office flop, earning a total of $23,998 all over the globe.

Though it aims for a similar tone, Beneath the Darkness is so vanilla and unremarkable it makes I Know What You Did Last Summer look like a masterpiece by comparison. Unfortunately, Martin Guigui 's R-rated debut falls several stories short of expectations and inevitably takes a place on this list.

Beneath the Darkness

5 'homecoming' (2009).

In Homecoming , Mischa Barton steps into the shoes of the stereotypical jealous ex-girlfriend who seeks vengeance after her former bae ( Matt Long ) returns to their hometown with a new girlfriend ( Jessica Stroup ). While poorly received by critics worldwide, though, Homecoming was somewhat of a box office success, grossing $8.5 million against a $1.5 million budget.

There have only been about a billion Fatal Attraction and Misery knockoffs (this is a little bit of both), but arguably none as instantly forgettable as this Morgan J. Freeman (not the Oscar-winning actor) film . Critics dog-piled on Homecoming for wall-to-wall clichés, and a lack of entertainment value. It's rare, though not unheard of, for a movie with subject matter like this to be genuinely good art. To not even be good nonsense is unforgivable.

Buy on Amazon

4 'The Disappointments Room' (2016)

But seriously, who ok'd this title? What's next, a horror movie called The Underwhelming Films Bunker ? Kate Beckinsale is usually brilliant (this movie was released the same year as Love & Friendship , perhaps her best work to date), but she appears to be sleepwalking through this supernatural thriller movie (that is thrill-free) about a Brooklyn couple who discover a weird room in their new country house. And who could blame her?

The Disappointments Room was released in the wake of Relativity folding. Surely much of the talent involved would have rather it never saw the light of day. Director D.J. Caruso has made a crackling horror film in 2007's Disturbia , but The Disappointments Room practically evaporates as you watch it — like its title suggests, audiences really are in for a disappointment .

Watch on Amazon Prime

3 'Cabin Fever' (2016)

Why, oh why is this film? An aggressively unnecessary remake of Eli Roth 's 2002 original (which rests at a far more palatable 62% on the Tomatometer ), Cabin Fever 2.0 simply retells the original story: it centers around a group of five college friends who succumb to an infectious, flesh-eating disease while staying at a remote cabin, only without the weird energy and humor that made the original movie what it was.

Roth surely has his detractors, but the Cabin Fever remake goes a long way in making Roth look good . In addition to not doing anything different from its source material, it is a gross horror movie without personality and a depressing experience; not in the cathartic way audiences sometimes want from a horror movie. It's really just a bummer.

Cabin Fever

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2 'Jaws: The Revenge' (1987)

How low can you go is the name of the game in this abominable third sequel to arguably the best suspense film ever made. The fourth and final film in the Jaws franchise shifted the focus to now-widowed Ellen Brody ( Loirrane Gary ) and her genuine belief that a white shark is seeking revenge on her family, especially when it kills her youngest son and then follows her to the Bahamas.

The Revenge is mostly unwatchably boring and unpleasurable, but there are so-bad-it's-good assets , like the roaring shark (yes, a roaring shark). Michael Caine famously missed an Oscars ceremony where he won for Hannah and Her Sisters to film Jaws: The Revenge. Film critic Roger Ebert famously knocked him for it.

Jaws: The Revenge

1 'one missed call' (2008).

The Ring starring Naomi Watts was a box-office leviathan and the beginning of a J-horror remake influx in Hollywood. The worst of these mostly terrible pale imitators of the solid Ring is this lame thriller about cursed voicemails. Gore Verbinski 's phenomenally successful retelling of Ringu accumulated a handful of mixed-to-negative critical notices (they were mostly positive).

Compared to One Missed Call , which centers around Beth Raymond ( Shannyn Sossamon ) as she witnesses the deaths of two friends who hear horrifying messages through the phone, that film is Psycho , an untouchable peak of the horror genre. According to Rotten Tomatoes (based on 80 reviews), this insult to Takashi Miike's well-received original is the worst horror movie, ever .

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NEXT: The Best Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked

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From authoritative to permissive parenting: Which parenting style...

Etimes.in | last updated on - may 18, 2024, 15:00 ist share fbshare twshare pinshare comments ( 0 ), 01 /8 6 parenting styles and which is the best.

Whatever style of parenting you choose, you must never forget to encourage your children to open dialogue and have conversations. As a parent, you must listen to them without judging them. Your parenting should be such that it encourages you to spend more time with your children and contribute towards their growth and development. Here are a few parenting styles that can be adopted by parents for the betterment of children:

02 /8 Authoritative parenting

Children who are raised in authoritative environments develop confidence and resilience. Parents who follow this style of parenting are often demanding and responsive. The children tend to achieve academic brilliance while learning to respect authority in a warm and supportive manner.

03 /8 Permissive parenting

04 /8 Authoritarian parenting

Authoritarian parenting involves a strict and disciplined household where parents exhibit demanding but less or no responsive behaviour. Strict rules and regulations are enforced to maintain a discipline that may hamper the child’s self-esteem and social skills.

05 /8 Uninvolved parenting

⁠Parents who practice uninvolved parenting styles exhibit little interest in providing guidance and attention to their children. They are neither demanding nor responsive, so they are less likely to be practiced.

06 /8 Helicopter Parenting

Helicopter parenting generally involves parents who are overly protective of their children. They take huge interest in the lives of their children, often providing them with support, safety, and encouragement.

07 /8 Free-range parenting

A free-range parenting style allows parents to encourage their children to be independent and self-sufficient. They allow their kids to take decisions themselves, but within the set boundaries. This style allows the children to overcome challenges and risks while promoting decision-making skills.

08 /8 The takeaway

Each of these parenting styles is unique in its own way. As a parent, you must practice a mix of all these styles that will help your children develop their skills and personalities. Taking inputs from all the styles will allow a balance and create an environment of support, guidance, and independence.

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Movie Review: ‘IF,’ imperfect but charming, may have us all checking under beds for our old friends

The Associated Press

May 15, 2024, 3:49 PM

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How do you make a kid’s movie that appeals not only to the kids, but the adults sitting next to them? Most movies try to achieve this by throwing in a layer of wink-wink pop culture references that’ll earn a few knowing laughs from parents but fly nicely over the heads of the young ones.

So let’s credit John Krasinski for not taking the easy way out. Writing and directing (and acting in, and producing) his new kid’s movie, “IF,” Krasinski is doing his darndest to craft a story that works organically no matter the age, with universal themes — imagination, fear, memory — that just hit different depending on who you are.

Or maybe sometimes, they hit the same — because Krasinski, who wanted to make a movie his kids could watch (unlike his “Quiet Place” thrillers), is also telling us that sometimes, we adults are more connected to our childhood minds than we think. A brief late scene that actually doesn’t include children at all is one of the most moving moments of the film – but I guess I would say that, being an adult and all.

There’s only one conundrum: “IF,” a story about imaginary friends (get it?) that blends live action with digital creatures and some wonderful visual effects (and cinematography by Janusz Kaminski), has almost too many riches at its disposal. And we’re not even talking about the Who’s Who of Hollywood figures voicing whimsical creatures: Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Jon Stewart, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Maya Rudolph, Emily Blunt, Sam Rockwell, and the late Louis Gosset Jr. are just a few who join live stars Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming. Imagining a table read makes the head spin.

The issue is simply that with all the artistic resources and refreshing ideas here, there’s a fuzziness to the storytelling itself. Just who is actually doing what and why they’re doing it — what are the actual mechanics of this half-human, half-digital world? — occasionally gets lost in the razzle-dazzle.

But, still, everything looks so darned lovely, starting with the pretty, brownstone-lined streets of Brooklyn Heights in New York City, where our story is chiefly set. We begin in flashback, with happy scenes of main character Bea as a little girl, playing with her funloving parents (Krasinski and Catharine Daddario). But soon we’re sensing Mom may be sick — she’s wearing telltale headscarves and hats — and it becomes clear what’s happening.

Bea is 12 when she arrives with a suitcase at her grandmother’s Brooklyn apartment, filled with her old paint sets and toys. Grandma (Fiona Shaw, in a deeply warm performance) offers the art supplies, but Bea tells her: “I don’t really do that anymore.”

She says something similar to her father, visiting him in the hospital (it takes a few minutes to figure out that they’ve come to New York, from wherever they live, so Dad can have some sort of heart surgery.) He tells Bea he’s not sick, just broken, and needs to be fixed. Hoping to keep her sense of fun alive, he jokes around, but she says sternly: “Life doesn’t always have to be fun.”

And then the creatures start appearing, visible only to Bea.

We first meet a huge roly-poly bundle of purple fur called “Blue” (Carell.) Yes, we said he was purple. The kid who named him was color-blind. These, we soon understand, are IFs —imaginary friends — who’ve been cut loose, no longer needed. There’s also a graceful butterfly called Blossom who resembles Betty Boop (Waller-Bridge). A winsome unicorn (Blunt). A smooth-voiced elderly teddy bear (Gossett Jr., in a sweet turn.) We’ll meet many more.

Supervising all of them is Cal (Ryan Reynolds.) An ornery type, at least to begin with, he’s feeling rather overworked, trying to find new kids for these IFs. But now that Bea has found Cal living atop her grandmother’s apartment building, she’s the chosen helper.

The pair — Reynolds and the sweetly serious Fleming have a winning chemistry — head to Coney Island on the subway, where Cal shows Bea the IF “retirement home.” This is, hands down, the most delightful part of the movie. Filmed at an actual former retirement residence, the scene has the look down pat: generic wall-to-wall carpeting, activity rooms for CG-creature group therapy sessions, the nail salon. And then the nonagenarian teddy bear gives Bea a key bit of advice: all she need do is use her imagination to transform the place. And she does, introducing everything from a spiffy new floor to a swimming pool with Esther Williams-style dancers to a rock concert with Tina Turner.

The movie moves on to Bea’s matchmaking efforts. A tough nut to crack is Benjamin (Alan Kim), an adorable boy in the hospital who favors screens and seems to have trouble charging his own imagination (spoiler alert: that’ll get fixed).

There are segments here that feel like they go on far too long, particularly when Bea, Cal and Blue track down Blue’s now-adult “kid” (Bobby Moynihan of “Saturday Night Live”), now nervously preparing for a professional presentation.

Still, the idea that adults could still make use of their old “IFs” at difficult times — and, to broaden the thought, summon their dormant sense of whimsy, as a closing scene captures nicely — is a worthwhile one. And by movie’s end, one can imagine more than one adult in the multiplex running home, checking under the bed, hoping to find a trusted old friend.

“IF,” a Paramount release, has been rated PG by the Motion Picture Association “for thematic elements and mild language.” Running time: 104 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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The Child In Time review
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MASTERPIECE
The Child in Time (2017) Movie Review by John Walsh

COMMENTS

The Child in Time
Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review alex h "The Child in Time" is an incredible film. It was released on TV, which is why I was so shocked that not many people know ...
The Child in Time review
Stephen's best mate and publisher, Charles, survives the adaptation process. It's an odd portrayal by Stephen Campbell Moore, but then odd too is Charles's breakdown and reversion to his ...
'The Child in Time' review: Benedict Cumberbatch stars in ...
'The Child in Time' review: Benedict Cumberbatch stars in this melancholy 'Masterpiece' movie about a couple that lost their child, opposite Kelly Macdonald
The Child in Time (TV Movie 2017)
The Child in Time: Directed by Julian Farino. With Benedict Cumberbatch, Kelly Macdonald, Stephen Campbell Moore, Saskia Reeves. The life of a children's book author is turned upside down when his daughter goes missing.
The Child in Time (film)
The Child in Time is a British television film directed by Julian Farino, adaptation of the 1987 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. ... On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 81% based on 21 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10.
The Child in Time
The Child in Time. The Child in Time (1987) is a novel by Ian McEwan. The story concerns Stephen, an author of children's books, and his wife, two years after the kidnapping of their three-year-old daughter Kate. The Child in Time divided critics. It won the Whitbread Novel Award for 1987 and has sometimes been declared one of McEwan's greatest ...
Child in Time Review: Benedict Cumberbatch Finds Hope After Grief
"The Child in Time" is a challenge to watch, especially in the beginning as it spins its tale of loss by shuttling back and forth chronologically. We see the emotionally spare present-day life ...
Review: The Child in Time
A Child in Time does an exceptional job of highlighting the horror in everyday life. Especially in terms of sound. The deafening silence which follows Stephen and Julie in their homes is suffocating, the chatter and check out bleep of the supermarket as Stephen's world falls apart is cruel and uncaring. The drama highlights that although your ...
The Child in Time (2017)
The life of a children's book author is turned upside down when his daughter goes missing. ... Film Movie Reviews The Child in Time — 2017. The Child in Time. 2017. 1h 22m. Not Rated. Drama ...
'The Child in Time' Recap
The Child In Time MASTERPIECE on PBS Sunday, April 1 at 9pm ET In an adaptation of Ian McEwan's award-winning 1987 novel by the same name, Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald star as the grieving parents of a missing little girl. Set two years after the girl's disappearance, the film explores the dark territory of a marriage devastated ...
The Child In Time review
As his own 'child in time', Charles' story is almost as sad as Stephen and Julie's. Sadder, perhaps, because they keep going while his exuberance comes to an abrupt stop. Ad. Ad ...
The Child in Time
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Mar 29, 2018. The Child in Time takes some bizarre turns that draw it away from the grief/guilt cycle endemic to the film's premise. There's Stephen's publisher friend (Stephen Campbell Moore) who has a Benjamin Button-style awakening that plays into the theme of childhood. And the film also offers an ending of ...
The Child in Time (TV Movie 2017)
Benedict Cumberbatch gives a performance of true understated poignancy and honesty, a truly courageous role to take on and he does it justice with one really feeling his anguish and pain. Likewise with Kelly MacDonald, who in her emotional scenes wrenches the gut and heart without being overwrought and she also charms.
The Child In Time Film Review
A disappointing film for sure, and one that's difficult to recommend to anyone who isn't willing to try and figure out the missing pieces themselves. Verdict - 3.5/10. 3.5/10. Ultimately this is a film about grief and the devastating impact it can have on people's lives. The Child In Time is a tragic, and oftentimes uncomfortable.
The Child in Time (TV Movie 2017)
A 4-year-old child is lost and the marriage of the parents deteriorates over three years of searching and grieving. A family friend commits suicide after an attempt to escape his humdrum government job and recover his own childhood. The birth of another child supplies a degree of resolution. — E. Russell Smith.
The Child in Time
Academy Award® nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, Sherlock) stars alongside Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire, Trainspotting), Stephen Campbell Moore (The History Boys, The Go-Between) and Saskia Reeves (Luther, Shetland) in Stephen Butchard's adaptation of Ian McEwan's award-winning novel, THE CHILD IN TIME. Set two years after his daughter went missing, THE CHILD IN TIME ...
The Child in Time on MASTERPIECE on PBS
Adapted from Ian McEwan's Whitbread Prize winning novel, and directed by Julian Farino ( The Newsroom, Entourage ), The Child In Time is a lyrical and heart-breaking exploration of love, loss ...
The Child in Time Summary
In 2017, the novel was adapted into a BBC television film starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald. A self-described "accidental" children's book author, Stephen wakes up next to his wife, Julie, one Saturday morning in their London apartment. He lets Julie sleep in and prepares to take his three-year-old daughter, Kate, to the ...
The Child in Time
The Child In Time is a lyrical and heart-breaking exploration of love, loss and the power of things unseen. Benedict Cumberbatch will star as Stephen Lewis, a successful writer of children's books ...
In Time Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 12 ): Kids say ( 43 ): The first half of IN TIME is stylish and original and offers just enough action and punny time jokes to be genuinely entertaining without being over the top. Parading an all-star cast of talented actors, led by the always charismatic Timberlake, the movie is by turns a thriller, a treatise on the ...
Watch The Child in Time
After his four-year-old goes missing, a children's author struggles to find purpose in life as the loss delivers a near-fatal blow to his marriage. Watch trailers & learn more.
'IF' Review: John Krasinski's Ryan Reynolds-Starring Children's Tale
Camera: Janusz Kamiński. Editors: Andy Canny, Christopher Rouse. Music: Michael Giacchino. With: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr ...
'If' Review: Childhood Wonder Succumbs To Deep Melodrama
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Release Date: May 17, 2024. In theaters today, John Krasinski directs and writes for an all-star cast led by Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming. The movie focuses on "IFs" - imaginary friends ...
IF (2024)
IF: Directed by John Krasinski. With Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw. A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone's imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up.
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Reviewed at Regal Union Square, New York City, May 14, 2024. Running time: 104 MIN.

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10 ways to uplift your children