Parents' Guide to Relax, I'm from the Future

Fittingly for a movie about time travel, this Canadian comedy is a pleasing throwback to the low-budget, high-concept movies of the early 2000s. Relax, I'm from the Future's first-time feature writer-director Luke Higginson occasionally gets his ideas as tangled as his timelines. But thankfully Darby is on-hand to star brightly in this typically lighthearted, sometimes satirical trip through the space-time continuum. Cast as the restless and erratic Casper, who returns to the 2020s initially in a bright purple leotard, Darby's precision bumbling brings out the best in the movie's set pieces and those around him. Together, the audience clings on while Casper both refuses to sit still or reveal his plans.

Almost a slacker movie at heart, Relax, I'm from the Future does make an effort to utilize Casper's future-world wisdom to point out more than just the results of major sporting events. The climate crisis, wars of attrition, and uneven drug laws all get poked and prodded by some solid throwaway lines. But the movie falters when it tries to draw it all together. There's a lot of exposition in the final act and no real surprises, with Higginson's homages to other time-travel movies giving its finale a second-hand feel. Thankfully the script and cast are funny enough to keep things watchable, even if a bolder ending would've been more in line with the movie's outlandish opening acts.