In Time (2011)

Olivia Wilde plays Justin Timberlake’s mom in In Time, and since nobody here looks a day over twenty-five, the movie asks you to just roll with it. That’s the fun part. The concept is a killer: your lifespan is your paycheck, glowing green on your forearm. Then the script spends 109 minutes making the same time-is-money pun in different outfits, until you start checking your own watch out of spite. Timberlake is fine as a factory worker turned Robin Hood, but he plays every scene at one speed. Amanda Seyfried is stuck playing a rich girl whose whole personality is being bored of being rich. Cillian Murphy is the best thing in it, a Timekeeper in a long coat who looks tired of everybody, including the script. Critics landed at 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, and honestly they were being polite. My Take is a 4.4, because an idea this good deserved a sharper movie. $91 says the next time someone asks if you’ve got a minute, you hesitate before answering.

What works: The premise is genuinely great, and Cillian Murphy’s weary Timekeeper gives the movie the only real tension it has.

What doesn’t: The script beats its time-is-money idea into the ground with puns and never builds a world that holds up past the first act.

Who it’s for: Anyone who loves a big sci-fi idea on a Friday night and doesn’t need the second half to make much sense.