Time is a concept that we are all infatuated with. A continuing cycle of 24 hours, unstoppable, that we can attempt to cram as much into, or just have it pass us by.

Of course in the world of cinema, there have always been films involving time; the first featuring time travel is said to be 1933’s Berkeley Square. And since then, Hollywood has produced a number of features involving all aspects of time.

This is the latest, which if nothing else, would bring a little comfort to Cher, as it involves turning back time.

There’s an important dinner happening at the Diehl’s house, with mom Jen (Isla Fisher) and dad Eric (Greg Kinnear) set to make a big announcement. They want Emma (Shay Rudolph), Taylor (Easton Rocket Sweda) and Max (Mason Shea Joyce) there to inform them that the couple are separating.

It also happens that they get a delivery, their grandfather’s grandfather clock, which is in a state of disrepair, and it gets sent down to the basement. Now Max has a few issues, in that he doesn’t talk, only through an app on his tablet, as well as doesn’t like being touched. He knows a thing about repairing stuff though, and manages to do just that to the family heirloom.

It’s then that he realises it does more than tell time, it can turn it back, by 12 hours. This gives him the idea that he and his siblings have got an opportunity to make enough changes in the day to keep their parents together. But can they do it?

Director Christian Ditter has managed to create a little time travelling himself, in managing to produce a film that feels like it came straight out of the eighties. And not in a good way.

It has an old fashioned Disney mentality about it, with well meaning kids dabbling in things they don’t completely understand, in order to keep the family together. The only thing missing is a family dog.

It soon becomes a family friendly Groundhog Day, with the same day playing over and over again. But instead of having fun with it, it’s irritatingly safe, making The Brady Bunch edgy by comparison.

There’s an attempt to bring a new dynamic to the table, in having a youngster with mental issues, but it’s just wedged in there in an attempt to give the film something at least, and it just doesn’t work. In fact, never has a film misused the concept of time travel in such a limp and redundant fashion.

One up side from it all however, is a stern lesson it delivers, and that’s time really is a precious commodity and really shouldn’t be wasted on bland and boring films such as this. So then, do you really want to waste 90 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back?