If you’ve ever stood in November sleet waiting for a late bus, or tried to kill those two extra hours at the airport, or sat stuck in traffic on a holiday weekend, you’ve had the fantasy: Wouldn’t it be great to be able to teleport yourself instantly anywhere in the world? Movies offer us vicarious wish fulfillment, and Jumper starts out terrifically. David Rice (Hayden Christensen), a 15-year-old boy with more than the usual set of problems that come with his age, discovers that he has the power of teleportation. He doesn’t understand it, but he learns to use it, in ways that tweak our own imaginations of what we would do with such a gift. He leaves his unhappy home, robs a bank (leaving an IOU) and starts to explore the world, going wherever a passing whim takes him, developing self-confidence and strength along the way.

The advertising for Definitely, Maybe proclaims “From the makers of Notting Hill and Love Actually,” which is more than a little misleading. I took that to mean that this was a new movie by Richard Curtis, the veteran British writer of sitcoms and romantic comedies, including those two hits. What the blurb instead means is that this effort is from the production company Working Title films, in which case it may as well have said “From the makers of United 93 and Barton Fink.” But such is the advertising business.