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MOVIE REVIEW
Time after Time
Network: Hallmark Channel
Original Air Date: March 19, 2011
CAST:
Richard Thomas ... Dick
Kaj-Erik Eriksen ... Richard Kerm
Christine Chatelain ... Jackie
Stephen Huszar ... Jeff
Richard Harmon ... Ricky
PLOT:
A soul-searching journalist comes face-to-face with his future when he returns to the Long Island community he grew up in and confronts a past that has haunted him his entire adult life in the Hallmark Channel Original Movie, “Time After Time”. Emmy® Award winner Richard Thomas (“The Waltons”) stars alongside Kaj-Erik Eriksen (“The 4400”) as a man who travels back in time and comes face-to-face with a younger version of himself. When the mature man looks into the eyes of someone who looks strangely familiar, if younger, he has an opportunity to fix tomorrow’s mistakes today. Christine Chatelain (“Final Destination”) also stars.
Richard Kerm (Eriksen) is always running. When things get tough, he bolts for the door, fleeing every job he’s had in the eleven years since he left his quaint hometown of Glenville Long Island. Now, he returns, hoping to find comfort in familiarity after a tough career break. When he starts working as a reporter at Glenville’s newspaper, Richard meets Dick (Thomas), who is strangely too familiar. He is shocked to learn Dick is his future self, who has traveled back in time to convince Richard to stop running away and start embracing life’s challenges. But Richard isn’t ready for his biggest challenge: his high school sweetheart Jackie (Chatelain) who Richard still has feelings for and who is now engaged to another man.
With Dick’s encouragement, Richard attempts to win Jackie back, but runs into trouble when he is assigned to write an investigative piece about the new big box discount store proposed to be built on Main Street. Jackie, Glenville’s mayor, is a big supporter of the store, but after talking to Dick, Richard knows it will cause economic ruin for Glenville. Faced with the choice of risking his rekindled relationship with Jackie, or seeing the town he loves fall apart, Richard gets ready to pack up and leave again. This time, it will take Dick’s hindsight to show him that the day he stops running is the day he starts moving forward.
Movie Review:
If I had to rate this movie, I would say it is PG - for several scenes with drinking. This is not a movie for children or family viewing. I think the story concept would be too confusing for younger viewers, anyway. An older Dick (played by Richard Thomas) has gone back in time to help his younger self make future decisions and marry his true love.
I imagine anyone who loves The Waltons will want to see Richard Thomas in this role. At many times, I found the movie entertaining, humorous, and interesting - Richard Thomas was terrific and I loved seeing him working in a Newspaper office - it almost seemed like I was watching John Boy, again, at times!
But, I found it silly that the girl he loved, Jackie, not only owned and ran a local diner (which was sweet), but she was also the Mayor. That seemed like a stretch and very unrealistic. How could she possibly have the time to do both?
Beware... Possible Spoilers below:
It's fun to see Dick be encouraging to his younger self - and help him through his life decisions and how he is persistant in his not giving up. It was also good to see the younger Richard take on a big corporation and win - preventing the mega-store from coming to and ruining their small town. Sometimes change doesn't mean progress - and the old way, sometimes, is still the best way.
At the end, Dick wakes up to his new life as an older man and discovers that he did marry Jackie many years ago - the funny thing now is - he doesn't seem to remember any of it. They go to the old diner to celebrate their anniversary and who does Dick meet - well, his grown son, daughter-n-law, and grandchild, who he doesn't even know or recognize until he is introduced. It had been such an interesting movie - but, I just didn't like how the end was written. I was glad that Richard had married Jackie, after all, but it would have been better if he could remember it!
See or Skip:
See, if you are a Richard Thomas fan... he was terrific!
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