Time Addicts (2023) The Foul-Mouthed Sleeper Comedy of 2023? (Review)

Time Addicts is one of the most singular concoctions that I’ve seen in some time. It tells a tale of time travelling, drug addiction, and eventually, intergenerational neglect and trauma, and all within the guise of an australian stoner comedy in possession of the godly gift of creative (bad) language. I thought there would be no way such a messy dish would work, that it would be another title to add to the wave of Irish and Antipodiean comedies that aren’t particularly great, but become endearing through their huge swings and big ideas – but no! Sam Odlum’s Directorial Debut, Time Addicts, should be one of the comedy movies from 2023 that cuts through the noise of low hanging studio-comedy fruit. 

The addicts in question are Denise (Freya Tingley), and Johnny (Charles Grounds), and they are nobodies – homeless, and in possession of little more than a laundry list of addictions and debts. When the urge kicks, it kicks, and so the pair head to a laundrette that local dealer and all-round bad egg, Kane (Joshua Morton), operates, but if they want their drugs they need to do him a favour. This favour sees the hapless duo head to an abandoned house to retrieve a bag that belongs to him – nothing more, nothing less – but what sounds like a simple endeavour takes a turn for the worse once they finally get the bag. Finding themselves locked inside the house, Johnny thinks it harmless to try a little sample from the bag, but upon snorting some of the illicit substance he vanishes into thin air – transported back to 1995 where he meets the hot-headed and wired Tracey (Elise Jansen). What follows is an electric comedy through time as they discover things about themselves and each other that they probably didn’t want to know.

Time addicts is a shrewd movie as, outside of the opening minutes, everything happens inside this one australian town house – from 1995’s suburbia to 2022’s rank desolation, and 2053’s futuristic anarchy. Each time period looks utterly unique from the next, and every penny of the budget has seemingly been stretched to breaking point with ingenuity that is not as present in independent filmmaking as it used to be. Using costume, brilliant set decoration and a music score that buzzes across a style spectrum, the movie feels far vaster than it actually is – which is remarkable given that Odlum’s movie is a comedy with four actors and one contained location.

Avoiding spoilers, the most I can say about the serpentine plotting is that it keeps you guessing, but with the understanding that this is a time-travel comedy with multiple versions of the same characters, it holds no great surprises. It’s predictable in the same way that most time loop or time travel movies are, but to paraphrase and butcher a Tarantino quote about plagiarism and smushing it into this context, it’s not about a good, surprising journey – its about how the creator adds their own flavour to these well-travelled ideas and tropes. In the case of Time Addicts, the characters and their foul mouthed understanding of the world make the movie sing.

If you don’t think people from Scotland, Ireland or Australia are funny in their creative swearing, jog on – this movie is not for you. However, if you love that sort of dead-pan, fatalastic straight-forwardness (like me), this is a comedy movie that needs to be on your radar. There are two scenes that exemplify this bawdy nonsense best, the first being when Johnny finds himself in 1995 in the house of an undercover cop, and the terms he uses to describe how little he thinks of them is both inspired and hilarious. I have never heard the term rat or dog used like that before, and it’s not just the order of words either, but the relish that Grounds puts into every syllable. It’s like his entire purpose in life was to be gloriously sweary.

The second is a spoiler, but where Johnny finds himself, combined with the contradictions between the cultural touchstones or stereotypes of that era, and how out of step he is with all of them is gloriously funny. Simply, it’s the best “reading a letter” scene I’ve seen in a very, very long time.

Time Addicts isn’t just a movie about people swearing in funny ways, and I certainly wouldn’t dream of recommending the film if that’s all there was to it – I would have suggested you visited a Glasgow or Dublin bus station and people watch instead, as although it might be an expensive alternative, the experience would be no different. This is a movie about reconcillation and second chances as under the addiction and desperation are people looking for a place to belong and make amends. A few people may need to get stabbed and shot to arrive at that resolution, but the growth that Johnny and Denise go through after being locked in this crack den is just as endearing as the dialogue is funny. Add into that the performances born from multiple versions of each character, woozy cinematography and an idiosyncratic style, and you may have one of the genuine sleeper comedies of 2023.

Rob’s Archive: Time Addicts (2023)