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The success of micro-budget head-scratcher ‘Primer’ proved the lure of the time-travel story. Now all kinds of similarly cash-strapped, ideas-heavy titles are starting to emerge from the indie underworld, from Spanish horror ‘TimeCrimes’ to this likeable homegrown effort from seasoned TV comedy director Gareth Carrivick.
Stuck in a dead-end job, sci-fi enthusiast Ray (Chris O’Dowd) wants to achieve great things but doesn’t know where to start. That’s until an encounter with mysterious time-cop Cassie (Anna Faris) – not to mention a temporal leak in the local pub toilets – sends him on a tour through a series of possible futures.
Wisely restricting themselves to a single location – in space, if not time – Carrivick and writer Jamie Mathieson weave a compelling narrative from simple elements, playing on audience expectations and riffing expertly on time-travel traditions. While hardly groundbreaking, this is smart, amusing post-pub viewing.