Long Story Short Parent Guide

The morning after his wedding, serial procrastinator Teddy (Rafe Spall) wakes up to find that a whole year has passed, and it is now his first anniversary. Badly confused, Teddy soon realizes that he is traveling forward through time to his next anniversary every few minutes. As he watches his life change in the blink of an eye, Teddy finally realizes that his procrastination has brought him nothing but misery. Has that lesson come too late?

Inadvertent time travel movies aren’t new; we’ve all seen Groundhog Day. Apparently so did the writers of Long Story Short since the characters directly reference it multiple times. Although not wholly original, the premise of this film has potential. Watching your life happen in snapshots so that you can go back and live life to the fullest is a good concept, and the added pressure of a marriage in trouble raises the stakes for the story. Although the message is good (and one our fast-paced culture needs) the finished product unfortunately doesn’t quite live up to its potential.

Because of the time travel story, we essentially end up with a one man show. The entire movie is placed on Rafe Spall’s shoulders, and I don’t think he’s strong enough to ground it. Perhaps a more seasoned and charismatic actor could have brought the script to life. Spall is trying his best, and he’s not bad, but with the camera on him almost exclusively for much of the run time, he ends up coming across as manic and jumpy. Zahra Newman, who plays Teddy’s wife, Leanne, puts in a solid effort but because of the time skips we really never get to know her on a deeper level. It can be hard to root for a couple when you don’t really know one of the partners. The whole story feels rushed and claustrophobic, a problem which would have been ameliorated, ironically enough, had a bit more time been invested in deeper character development.

I don’t want to sound too harsh; this isn’t a bad movie. I enjoyed it well enough and didn’t find it to be a complete waste of an evening. I just think there’s a better film hiding in there somewhere that could have emerged under more skillful hands.

As far as negative content is concerned, the major consideration here is the five dozen profanities dumped into this romantic drama. To be fair, my understanding is that the “F-word” is not considered as big a deal in Australia as it is here in North America, so perhaps the language is less troubling to our friends Down Under. But I don’t think this is going to be a hit for family movie night with teens. Whatever your views might be about swearing in cinema, this offering isn’t really a movie for younger viewers since I don’t think they’d be terribly enthralled by the realistic challenges of marriage. Perhaps, instead of watching a film about seizing every moment, you could just go out and do that for yourself.