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This is a modern (2026) review of Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel… trust me, you’ll like this…
I found Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel after rewatching “Moone Boy”, and I fell down a Chris O’Dowd rabbit hole. I discovered he had starred in this 2009 British sci‑fi comedy I had never heard of, despite it being my kind of genre. I watched it on a rainy weekend in May 2026, which is 17 years after its release. I like the time travel genre and movies. The classic Time Machine (1960), My Science Project (1985), Back to the Future (1985), and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). I have written before about how much I enjoy clever, underappreciated time travel stories, including Time Twister by Ged Maybury. This made finding a Chris O’Dowd time travel comedy feel like a winning a prize. FYI, at time of writing this review, Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel is free to watch on HBO, at least in the US.
Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel came out in 2009. I missed it completely at the time (no pun intended). In fairness, in 2009 I was living in China, so it is no surprise it slipped past me. Over time Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel has apparently found a second life as a cult movie. It seems to be the kind of film people (like me) discover years later and then recommend to friends with a quiet “trust me, you’ll like this”.
The cast is incredibly small. Chris O’Dowd plays Ray. Marc Wootton plays Toby. Dean Lennox Kelly plays Pete. Anna Faris appears as Cassie. Yes, that Anna Faris. By 2009 she was best known from the Scary Movie series, but this movie is so under the radar it almost feels like an early career cameo.
The writer is Jamie Mathieson. If the name rings a bell, it is because he worked on Being Human and Doctor Who (he also recently published a book). The director is Gareth Carrivick, who also worked in British TV. He passed away after the film’s release, which makes the whole thing bittersweet. I don’t want to spoil it but, in a way, this makes the movie a poignant tribute against the Hollywood hype machine.
The comic tone of the movie sits close to Douglas Adams. The film feels like it could exist somewhere in the wider Adams universe, where cosmic inconvenience is normal and the absurd is treated as routine. If you are a fan of Adams, you will like the movie. The Adams vibe is not surprising given Mathieson would later go on to be one of the writers on the Dirk Gently TV series (it’s a good series btw). The humor also reminds me a bit of Simon Peg’s work, like Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. If that’s not enough to get you to watch it, then I worry about you and how you even found this page… are you a lost time traveler searching for a legitimate FAQ? Sorry to disappoint you.
The whole movie was apparently filmed in about 18 days. The primary location is a pub. The closing credits have the producers thanking the Wheatsheaf Pub. I have done lots of geo-sleuthing and found the pub used as the external location, which is The Talbot, 1 Mill Hill Rd, London W3 8JB, United Kingdom, sadly, this pub is permanently closed. I am guessing most of the interior shots are probably from a soundstage/studio, but that’s a wild guess. I’m not sure why it was called White Horse in the movie – but there is a white horse on the “The Talbot” sign, so maybe it’s a nod to that? I’m also not sure if it formerly traded as the Wheatsheaf. If you know more or can shed light on this, contact me.
Plot wise, I am going to avoid spoilers. Other than to say, the opening scene makes you think the movie is going to take a very different direction. After that, the story becomes a loop of pub conversations, time jumps, and the kind of chaos that only happens when regular people stumble into Sci-Fi problems. The pub is the anchor point and the place where the rules of the night keep resetting. The pub toilet (yes, toilet not an American bathroom) plays a role and a fitting one at that. Let’s face it, pub toilets are inherently weird. Always frozen in time with outdated floor to ceiling tiles, flickering fluorescent lights, and a sense of being cut off from the outside energy of the bar. It’s entirely believable that the outside world could change completely while you are inside a pub toilet where time has stood still.
The pub is the essentially the entire set and universe of the movie. In that sense, the set is so compact it would work as a stage play. The 3 main characters are drinking pints of Guinness, arguing over who paid for the last round, and whether to get a pack of crisps. It is familiar, the kind of small pub energy that resonates with me and is a core memory. It reminds me of being young with friends in my hometown local, and also of going out for a drink with my Dad. Those moments where the conversation wanders, the jokes may land unevenly, and what’s next could take you anywhere.
What gives the plot its heart is how the three friends genuinely care about each other but try not to show it. There is a very British mix of affection, sarcasm, and emotional deflection. The kind of friendship where you would do anything for each other, but you would never admit it out loud. As the night unravels, the stakes get incrementally higher. Are they world‑ending stakes (maybe or maybe not? no spoilers!). But definitely things are at stake. Including the kind of stakes that matter when you are young, hopeful, and still figuring out who you are and what you want to be.
Adding to the local pub vibe is the juke box with two songs that play on constant repeat (haven’t we all been at pubs where the locals play the same few songs on heavy rotation? in Australia it’s inevitably Cold Chisel or AC/DC) and feature as key plot devices in the movie. Total Eclipse of the Heart and The Land of Make Believe feature and both are used for laughs and the jokes land. Side note, if you have never seen the Bucks Fizz video for The Land of Make Believe, look it up on YouTube. It is peak 80s Euro-pop at its finest.
Of course, being Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel , the movie discusses classic time travel paradoxes but without turning into a lecture. The grandfather paradox appears, as does chaos theory aka the butterfly effect. But the best and used to great comic effect is the “don’t meet” and “don’t touch yourself” rule.
One of the real Easter Eggs though is that if you are a Sc-Fi fan and particularly a time travel fan, on repeat viewings (I watched it 3 times in the same week as my first viewing), it will reward you with ‘a nod and a wink’ references to other time travel movies. It made me feel in on the joke with the writer/director and I appreciate it, because it’s clever without being exclusionary for people who are not in the know. I think that’s also why I find the movie so familiar. If you like Edge of Tomorrow or Groundhog Day, you will appreciate how Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel loops back on itself. The looping structure rewards paying attention but never punishes you for missing something. It is clever without being smug. At about 80 minutes, the movie moves quickly and never drags; and worth watching again to catch the time loop Easter Eggs you missed on the first run.
Despite being a Sci-Fi time travel movie, there’s no flashy effects, Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel leans on character, dialogue, and timing. The friendship is the point. The time travel just exposes what the characters mean to each other and what they need to decide about themselves, their friendship, their legacy, and their future.
What stays with me is how the movie captures friendship and how a random night can become a memorable story because you were with the right people at the right time. Even if your own night out never ends in time travel or Sci-Fi chaos (if they have, call me!), the rhythm feels familiar. The shared jokes, the small arguments, side bets, the sense that the night could tip into something memorable without warning. Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel understands that most friendships are built on these moments. And that life can go on afterwards even if the occasional night gets a little weird.
Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel is under appreciated. It is on my must watch list. It is something I will now download to watch on a flight because it is fun, clever, and easy to rewatch (and rewards repeated viewing). Despite what critics said at the time, I think Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel is a solid 8 out of 10. It is an underappreciated film that deserved more attention than it ever got. Any haters missed the point. Add it to your watch list and as I said at the start “trust me, you’ll like this”…
Any and all advice, guides, and reviews are unbiased and based on my personal experience. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions, which helps support my website. This does not have an impact on posts or my opinion of any reviewed products. If you find this post helpful and want to say thanks, please buy me a coffee or take a look at my book on Amazon. It keeps this page ad-free. Thank you!