James vs. His Future Self – A Solid Sci-Fi Rom-Com

Romantic comedies are a tired genre and the latest Canadian indie film, James vs. His Future Self, is no different though this film would take the genre in a different direction by, if you haven’t already guessed it, adding sci-fi elements to the story. While this combination doesn’t quite work the film does not particularly excel at one or the other (it would have been better as either one or the other), it is still a fun watch nevertheless due to the film’s titular relationship. The film may not bring anything new to the table but what it does do, it does well enough and was never boring to watch. With a running time of around 90 minutes and showcasing the city of Sudbury, Ontario, it’s a reasonably quick watch with some familiar sights (though for some people more than others).

The story of James vs. His Future Self is pretty self-explanatory as it saw an obsessive, workaholic scientist named James (Chernik) come across a future version of himself named Jimmy (Stern) who has traveled back in time to stop him from inventing time travel. Suffice it to say that a big part of the film was the contrast between both versions of James. James and Jimmy were much different people as James’ ambition and drivenness was no longer present within Jimmy and there would be plenty of reasons for that. James’ mission to invent a method for time travel consumed his life, affecting his family including his relationship with his sister Meredith (Tommie-Amber Pirie) for whom he was close with after the loss of their parents and his friend and work colleague, a fellow scientist named Courtney (Coleman). Jimmy’s life was not necessary the life that James had anticipated for himself therefore he took it upon himself to prevent it from happening.

James vs. His Future Self was not as contentious of a film as the title may imply but James and Jimmy were fun to watch together though the latter propped up the former. The two helped each other, however, that would be easier said than done. In order to change his fate, James would basically have to change the kind of person he was. Although the big thing was to put his work aside and be in the moment, his ambitious nature was hard to ignore. While Jimmy helped James on this journey of self-discovery, their fates seemed increasingly inevitable despite their efforts. Meanwhile, James and Courtney were somewhat fun to watch together in limited screen time (compared to James and Jimmy) yet was not as compelling. The same was the case with James and Meredith. These relationships were not nearly as developed as James and Jimmy.

The best part of James vs. His Future Self was Stern’s dynamic performance as Jimmy. While there was supposed to be a contrast between James and Jimmy, he definitely propped up Chernik’s James whose performance was more on the bland side (though that may be by design). Their chemistry was great, keeping the film very watchable. Though the character of Jimmy merely served as a plot device, it’s hard to not want more from him and Stern. Meanwhile, Coleman was fine as Courtney. There wasn’t much to the character beyond James’ relationship with her. Frances Conroy delivered a scene-stealing performance in a small role as James and Courtney’s boss Dr. Edith Rowley.

At the end of the day, James vs. His Future Self won’t set the world on fire but in its own right is a fun little indie film that is still worth a watch if you can find it.

*still courtesy of Raven Banner*

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.