Time Travel Is Dangerous follows real-life best friends Ruth (Ruth Syratt) and Megan (Megan Stevenson), owners of a vintage shop in North London. When they stumble upon a time machine, they use it to take trips to the past to ‘borrow’ items to sell for their shop. After using the time machine for six years, Ruth and Megan begin to face the consequences of their many time travel excursions. Time Travel Is Dangerous is a sci-fi film with unexpected subtle comedy and an age-old theme of the power of friendship.
Ruth and Megan are truly the best of friends, they own a vintage shop together, live together, and know each other’s likes and dislikes, and they are what make this film so enjoyable. Their banter and chemistry are spoken like friends that have known each other for years, making it the highlight of the film. Nonetheless, the supporting cast never lacks in matching the wits of Ruth and Megan. Each supporting cast member does their part to contribute to the story, whether it’s involving time travel, Ruth and Megan’s friendship, and giving you a slight chuckle when they’re on screen. The comedy of the film comes from the camera just as much as it does the actors. the film is shot like the TV show The Office, with the camera zooming into facial expressions. The camera add a layer to the film to make it that much funnier.
The time travel aspect is easy to follow, and does not get confusing, as can happen with sci-fi films. As an audience member, you don’t have to understand the science of time travel, because, luckily, neither do Ruth and Megan. The duo is warned a few times that time travel is dangerous because no one can know how removing things from the past will affect the future. Plus, the fact of being in a time period you’re not from at all. That much is easy enough to understand. Additionally, the time vortex that is the Unreason isn’t a difficult to understand concept, though it is sort of new. The Unreason is the depths of space where lost remnants of time travel end up.
As I said before, Ruth and Megan are truly the best of friends. It’s clear in their banter and how they interact with each other. Their friendship is the core of this film and what makes it enjoyable to watch. Like almost any movie, the best friends have their typical argument that makes you wonder if they’ll be friends again. Ruth and Megan’s blow up was very truthful and relatable. Ruth is pretty envious of Megan at times, and it fuels her desire to be well liked by others. While Megan is afraid to let Ruth know how much she cares about her and relies on her. But like all best friends, they balance each other out to make the dynamic duo that they are in this film.
Score: 3 out of 5
I went in not knowing what to expect from this Time Travel Is Dangerous, but was pleasantly surprised after watching. It’s not a super complicated sci-fi plot, and I laughed way more than I expected, largely due to the excellent chemistry between Ruth and Megan and the rest of the cast. It’s a funny exploration of the wacky and dangerous things that can happen when you and your best friend discover time travel. I would love to see more of Ruth and Megan getting into some other sticky sci-fi situations.
