Plot synopsis
Russ, a mean cynical image consultant has no romance in his life, is about to turn 40 and has blocked out all memories of his childhood. One day, he finds a lost eight year-old child in his apartment called Rusty.
He soon realises this is his younger self, who has slipped through time. Russ is not impressed with the chubby, timid boy, and Rusty is not impressed with his older self. He thinks he is an unmarried loser who does not even have a dog and did not follow their dream of becoming a pilot.
Russ travels back to 1968 with Rusty to help him win an important battle at school that will help shape his life, meaning that when Russ returns to his own time period, his life has changed for the better.
My comments
I have no problem with Rusty being in the past with his younger self revisiting his childhood. But, when he returns to his own time, surely he will arrive further along the new timeline and meet a grown-up version of Rusty on that timeline. It is not as if there will be an open space in his life waiting for him to slot into.
Summary of time travel
Russ is able to change his past, when he travels back, which means the past is open in this film. When he returns to his own time, he finds that his life in the present has significantly changed, which means that the timeline has diverged.
He also starts to behave differently because of the lessons he learnt when in the past. This causes the timeline to diverge again.
Category of time travel
Fantasy: finding portals.
Model of time
Open past, open future with a diverging timeline.
