Karen is more concerned about her mom’s relationship with her stepdad. It’s not that they’re a bad match, but Karen still longs for her real dad. Deep down, she wishes her parents would get back together.
Lex, on the other hand, is still processing the loss of his family, who died in a tragic boat accident. His adoptive parents treat him well, and he lives a comfortable life, but things just feel different. There’s a part of him that still feels disconnected with them.
So no, they weren’t searching for love. But somehow, they meet on an online dating app.
As they get to know each other, they begin to unpack their emotions and share pieces of their past. Then, they realize one huge thing.
They are living in two different timelines.
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There are moments when FranSeth actually works for me. Strangely, these are the scenes when Karen and Lex aren’t together. It’s when Lex is spending time with his yaya and adoptive parents or when Francine deals with her parents' separation. The film feels more grounded and sincere when it focuses on their individual struggles.
Honestly, I wanted the movie to lean more into being a family drama instead of forcing a time-travel romance. Because when the romantic scenes come in, things start to feel off. Well, they’re toxic for each other. Lex tends to gaslight, while Karen often loses her temper. Their interactions are supposed to be sweet or flirty, but their personalities clash in a way that makes it hard to root for them.
What also doesn’t help is how the movie tries to hide the time-travel element. It avoids directly showing the difference in years, but the attempt falls flat. The version of 2009 we see doesn’t feel real or accurate at all.
Then there’s the ending. It’s meant to be romantic, but to me, it felt uncomfortable and even disturbing.
The 15-year age gap is hard to ignore. There’s even a scene where Lex, already an adult in his timeline, meets a 8 or 9 year old Karen. When the twist is revealed and you look back on that moment, it doesn’t feel sweet at all. It feels wrong. No matter how the film tries to spin it, the idea of a grown man waiting years for a girl he met, technically, as a child is unsettling.
In the end, I think the film would have worked better if it didn’t pursue romance at all. If it had focused on the acceptance of truth and how two different people can change each other’s lives across time, it might have been more meaningful. That could have left a more memorable impression than the weird and awkward ending we got.
2/5
