Most of the time, a movie’s job is to entertain. Some serve to inform, some to make audiences think differently about a topic, some just to be fun, eliciting laughter or screams. And then, there are movies that just exist. Time Now is one of these latter movies.

Following the sudden death of her brother, Jenny (Eleanor Lambert) comes home to Detroit, Michigan with her young son – named after her other deceased brother. Her mother doesn’t seem to want her around, so, in an effort to keep the peace, her aunt Joan (Claudia Black) takes her to her late brother’s apartment. The shadowy loft is filled with memories of him, the places he spent time, and the people he loved. Jenny accepts that, despite being triplets, she didn’t know her brothers at all.

Compelled by either curiosity or a sense of duty drilled into her at a young age (“You came out first,” her mother tells her in a flashback, “which makes you the oldest. It’s your job to protect your brothers.”), Jenny goes to her brother’s favorite places and meets some of his friends. She realizes that something about his death doesn’t add up, and, drawn by that same sense of duty, she decides to investigate.

Time Now is marketed as a thriller, but it’s not all that “thrilling.” Jenny’s investigation takes up very little real estate in the plot, and it’s more a movie about Jenny, her mother, and how they’re dealing with each other and the death of Jenny’s brother. If the movie had stuck with this, it would’ve been passable. Blah blah grief, blah blah family expectations, blah blah eldest daughter syndrome, etc. Still not my thing, but at least it would’ve been tonally consistent. Time Now suffers from a stupid ending and main characters who are way less interesting than the side characters.

This is very much a Laundry Movie. It makes for decent background noise while you fold laundry, but isn’t something I would put on for entertainment purposes. It’s technically fine, but overall quite “eh.” And that’s the cardinal sin, really.

I’ve heard it said that “mediocre” is worse than “bad,” because someone who’s made something bad was usually at least willing to take risks, swing for the fences, and try making something new/exciting/meaningful, while someone who’s made something mediocre wasn’t. Mediocrity is the end result of playing it safe, and that’s just not as fun to watch as someone who is willing to rush in headfirst even if it means failing.

You can judge Time Now for yourself when it comes out on October 23rd, but I can think of better ways to spend a Saturday.

4 out of 10 Baskets Of Folded Laundry