In Time

Andrew Niccol's In Time, from 2011, posits a world where everyone stays 25, but time has become currency. This not only produces a dystopian future where the elites can live for a century and the rabble struggle to eke out an existence, but also to the usual Hollywood hallucination in which Olivia Wilde can portray Justin Timberlake's mother. The film's critique of capitalism is pointed and timely, but In Time's impact is blunted by Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried's lack of chemistry. 

Seyfried and Timberlake are both adequate, but fail to ignite a spark in their romantic scenes. This lessens the impact of the conclusion of the film when they have morphed into Bonnie and Clyde types who rob the time banks of the rich. Timberlake is too graceful and effete to portray a tough guy from the wrong side of the tracks. He only comes to life when he dons a suit and dances with the fetching Seyfried. Seyfried is too warm to play the brittle rich girl. The baddies fare better with Cillian Murphy as a cop tasked with giving the backstory and Alex Pettyfer oozing charisma as a gangster. Vincent Kartheiser, forever typecast as a creep thanks to his role in Mad Men, fits the bill as one of the capitalist swine variety.

Like Niccol's Gattaca, the film excels at an architectural vision of a dystopia, but, unlike that film, fails to capture many memorable moments of human interaction. Even if one doesn't dwell on the many lunacies of In Time's script, there are no moments as memorable as Ernest Borgnine toadying up to his masters in Gattaca. It remains to be seen if Niccol is more than a one trick pony.