Man’s last hope, The Present, directed by Christian Ditter (How to Be Single), revolves around three kids who want to reunite their parents by using a magic clock that they inherited from their grandfather a clock which goes back the human perception of time by 12 hours. With the clock reset once, the children get to experience the same day over and over again until their parents’ call for ‘separation’ is eradicated. That sounds like the kind of magic effects driven family movie you used to watch as a kid in the 80 well nope, not that, and it is not aiming to be one either.
The kids in this case may choose when to turn back the time, given the perfect device around the plot, but this is a movie about time loops and reboots. And although it might have been terribly unfair to compare it to one of the best comedies created in the film industry, but still you will find it hard to get Groundhog Day out of your head, considering the plot that is placed before you. Even if you cannot surpass that very epic itself, this particular style is definitely an epitome of character expression and construction as well as how the audience’s perception of the cast is guided by their familiar plot devices over a sequence of events and you can witness some character development or otherwise.
In this particular perspective of the genre, the youngest child Taylor mute and fearful of touch, for some unspecified neuro divergent reason depicted by Easton Rocket Sweda has already gone through several loops of trying to save his parents. This all revolves around a dinner in which parents Jen played by Isla Fisher and Eric played by Greg Kinnear, went ahead to seek a separation. In this case, when time is reversed and comebacks are taken against the twirl of the clock, Taylor’s goal is to try and accomplish perfection on the fateful day of the parents’ breakup. Alone together, they seem destined to be together, yet regardless of what happens, there will always be the one thing that would prevent them from being together.
At this point, his teenage sister Emma, played by Shay Rudolph, becomes curious and is now brought into the loop that sings the best tunes in the film. Rudolph is wonderful in that she portrays the eldest daughter as the most responsible child and one who is not annoying in the least bit. That has regularly worked for Julia Stiles. Her career is already promising and we can expect her to have even more prominent features in the future. Her high-school-romance subplot is too short than expected because one had the feeling that there was much to do with those characters and her obnoxious boyfriend warranted more than to be a thing of past off screen.
Tonally, the film seems to struggle and become inconsistent at times. There is some very dark comedy with a scene where Taylor has the intention of killing his mother’s obnoxious new love interest Richard, to which Ryan Guzman is well cast, but his sister manages to stop him. He’s accompanied by a number of people who complicate the quest for wedded bliss including an orchid loving marriage counselor portrayed by Arturo Castro, and a ridiculously vulgar young real estate agent played by Alphonso McAuley.
There’s also perhaps a little bit too much dialogue about adult relationships and some very similar therapy predictable nuances that makes this not fully suitable for children, while children’s comedy elements are too basic to sustain the attention of adults one of the major fun factors of the day is getting the hair of the father changed. I guess you could call it a family film; something to please and bore everyone in equal proportions.
Every plot line has an arc, so this one also had to end. Regrettably, the movie does get off track towards the end and almost abandons the central concept. It skips over the climactic moment that is meant to redeem the narrative, whereas the ending’s main concept is so cliché that one can get the impression it was created some decades ago and not in a romantic sense. All in all, it is rather impossible to offer a concluding twist when there are no groundbreaking conflicts to commence with. So how does this relationship matter, Although their chemistry is okay, one has the impression that no damage will be sustained in the end anyway.
This film, unlike many time loop stories, which tend to be centered on one character, is a little more Rashomon in structure in that it presents the same day from a different character’s POV each time. This is a neat way to look at the relations and have everyone’s say but then again, one of the joys of time loops which is the buildup or the escalation in the aforementioned prompt does go out the window when changing the perspective. The best sequence is a montage towards the end where the kids go bigger, crazier and more illegal in their bid to rescue the marriage. Having more of this throughout could have easily made the film that bit more interesting. Even if the children’s characters had grown and behaved like children with no consequences, this would have made it much more entertaining.
Is it cinematic? Well, no. It is rather devoid of grandeur and fails to explore any of the myths relating to the central premise. The time travel particles are nothing more than sequences of videos being play in reverse interspersed with clock sparkles, but it works. Not that it brings forth the feeling of a low budget television movie in any way; more like a loves children’s movie ostitles story’ episode of a producers well animated anthology series like Amazing Stories. The veteran girthy and charismatic cast of the movie, dominated by Fisher and Kinnear, helps and the material remains fun.
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