What if Jesus had thwarted crucifixion? What if Peggy Sue could go back in time and not marry her adulterous husband? The same predicament, really.

This prom-night balloon of a movie floats easily above the year's other exercises in '50s nostalgia. If you dare reach for it, it will land smartly in your heart.

It's grave, lumbering, arrhythmic, and bloated, an emotional hogwallow of catchpenny insights and easy sentimentality.

It's not Coppola's usual territory, and he overplays the Capra card a little, but he has fashioned a thoughtful, rewarding tale - even if he doesn't use a DeLorean car to get there.