Project Almanac

While this teen found footage sci-fi is brought to you by the unholy alliance of MTV Films and Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes, which means we're either being sold good looking teenagers, a particular car, a product (in this case a popular energy drink) or all three, Project Almanac is fun enough and smart enough to entertain.

Seventeen-year-old David (Weston) has been accepted to MIT but can't afford the fees. Feeling sorry for himself he mooches about in the attic and finds his father's old camcorder containing footage of David's seventh birthday - the last day he saw his father alive. But what's this? In the mirror in the background of the party scene, David sees his seventeen-year-old self recording this very scene. Further investigation reveals plans for an unfinished time machine, the titular project his father was working on. Can David finish the plans, go back in time and save dad?

Yes he could but why go for all that uncomfortable serious stuff when there are gratuitous shots of cleavage, legs, and product placements whizzing by in in slow motion to be included? Paranormal 5 (6?) writers Andrew Deutschman and Jason Pagan forgo anything deep to have fun answering the dramatic question: What would a teenager do if they had a time machine?

Everything from using the machine for killing Hitler to fixing the lotto and cheating on exams, to gaining popularity at school and wooing the hot girl is brought up. It might be a nice thought to say that despite having time at our fingertips we want to feel love but far too much time is given over to the romance. With David having to go back in time again and again to patch up his mistakes in romancing Jessie (Black-D'Elia), for a large chunk this enjoyable sci-fi becomes Groundhog Day 2.

It does eventually find itself again, however. David slipping through time causes tragedies with further trips needed to paper over the various problems that crop up. It's here that Almanac embraces the head-scratching, rip in the space-time continuum, closed loop muddle of it all and is a far better film for it. And then it finally remembers the dad situation and gets back to business.

It's no Chronicle, which despite all the time travel nods is its real influence, but Project Almanac is enjoyable nonetheless.