While it doesn't quite achieve the same standards as its recent forebears in British genre comedy, this modest film has amiable, convoluted charm.
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:7
Rotten:12
Average Rating:4.4/10
Theatrical Release:24-04-2009
Synopsis: In this clever British comedy from director Gareth Carrivick, three down-on-their-luck lads meet for a pint and find themselves sucked into a hilarious time-travel adventure via the pub bathroom.... In this clever British comedy from director Gareth Carrivick, three down-on-their-luck lads meet for a pint and find themselves sucked into a hilarious time-travel adventure via the pub bathroom. Ray (Chris O'Dowd) is a sci-fi obsessed geek who has just been fired from his job at an amusement park. He meets up with his mates, Pete (Dean Lennox Kelly) and Toby (Marc Wootton), and they settle into a pub booth to bemoan their nonexistent careers, mock Hollywood films, and debate the merits of being a "nerd." However, their mellow night is thrown for a loop when Ray heads up for another round and meets the lovely Cassie (Anna Faris). Cassie claims to be from the future, and she spins a wild tale for Ray about her inner time machine. Ray assumes Pete and Toby are playing a prank, and he returns to their table annoyed, but they haven’t a clue what he is talking about. Everyone thinks Cassie is a big joke, but when Pete heads to the bathroom, he ends up stumbling into an actual time portal and traveling to the future, where he has a horrible vision of his own death. He races back through the portal to tell the present-day Ray and Toby, and soon enough all three are running back and forth through time as they try to solve the mystery of Pete’s death, unravel the baffling rules of time travel, and get back to the present--and, more importantly, their waiting pints. All three male leads turn in excellent performances, and Faris (HOUSE BUNNY) is an understated pleasure. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT TIME TRAVEL is Carrivick's debut feature, and he has crafted a delightfully entertaining comedy with a brainteaser plot to boot. Fans of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE will likely find the flick most enjoyable, no matter their place on the time-space continuum. [More]
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wootton, Dean Lennox Kelly, Anna Faris
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wootton, Dean Lennox Kelly, Anna Faris
Director: Gareth Carrivick
Director: Gareth Carrivick
Screenwriter: Jamie Mathieson
Producer: Neil Peplow, Justin Anderson Smith
Reviews for Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel is, unashamedly, a Mini Cooper of a film: small but nippy.
This engaging comedy feels like a stretched-out TV pilot, but is nicely put together, with enough laughs to make a refreshing change from usual Brit film fare..
Enjoyable comedy with likeable characters, several witty one-liners and an engaging plot, but you can't help feeling they could have done a lot more with the premise.
Refreshingly, director Carrivick’s feature debut is both dark, compelling and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny.
Overcoming a limited budget with imagination and charismatic characters, it's a minor miracle to see a British movie take on a subject matter monopolised by Hollywood and emerge on level terms.
While hardly groundbreaking, this is smart, amusing post-pub viewing.
A British “comedy” which is stuck in the past, a time when someone mixing up Star Wars and Star Trek was a gag.
What do you get if you take Shaun Of The Dead, subtract the zombies and add time travel? Sadly, not Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.
"HOW hard can it be to make a film that doesn't suck?" asks bitter wannabe-screenwriter Toby early on. Anyone stumbling out of this latest Britcom would be forgiven for wondering the same thing, given that it sucks like a black hole.
A good effort, but ultimately one that may have been more suited to a TV special than a fully-fledged feature, FAQ… is like that geeky friend you really want to like - if only they'd sort out their BO problem and stop talking about Deep Space Nine.
There are some good ideas, but I was disappointed not to get an ending that pieced everything together into a satisfying chain of events. The film provokes questions, all right, but too many are left unanswered.
An undercooked, rapidly unravelling script, low-grade production values (is that the best future costume you have?), plodding direction and an apologetically crap ending are not worth the price of a cinema ticket in these belt-tightening times.
The film resembles nothing so much as an indifferent and wildly over-stretched episode of space sitcom Red Dwarf.
This is the worst film of the week, a dire British comedy, to which the only honest response is to soil and then set fire to the Union flag in the foyer of your local cinema.
Through no particular fault of the performers, it is pointless, perfunctory and painfully unfunny.
More Movies
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel at Rotten Tomatoes
- Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel at IGN
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

