Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

If you like smart dialogue, an imaginative narrative, and well developed character, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED is your film. The premise is well articulated with believable relationships portrayed by a talented cast. Audrey Plaza's star turn took the dopey outsider and added her own understated charm that illuminated every frame, especially the campfire scene with Mark Duplass. His performance was perhaps the riskiest.....playing a lonely but driven crusader whose character took a little from FISHER KING, a little from HEROS, a little more from BEAUTIFUL MIND and added a touch of STARMAN.

The ending might have seemed contrived without the sincerity of director Colin Trevorrow. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED was certainly the best film I've seen so far this summer especially after my disappointment with Wes Anderson's most recent effort. It was its last night in Tallahasee attended by perhaps only a dozen people.....surprisingly many stag guys who weren't afraid to laugh out loud. I wonder how many of them were time travelers.

Fmovies: I've watched so many sub standard films recently, that I feared for the worst with this one. It's so nice to be genuinely blown away by a film, and this one did the job. It is just a lovely, sweet, enjoyable film. It doesn't have massive action, gore or big special effects, but it has depth, it's as much about relationships as it is about time travel, the time travel aspect of the film is secondary to the complexity of the relationships.

One of those heart warming films, that you'll enjoy a second time. I wish it had gone on for longer, or some sort of follow up had been made, showing if the duo had actually gotten to their desired destination.

Loved it. 9/10

"Safety Not Guaranteed" is based on an actual classified ad placed in a magazine, looking for someone to go back in time with. The real ad was just a joke for last-minute content. The movie, though, wonders what if it wasn't a joke. One young writer and two young interns are assigned to the story to figure out who is behind the ad, and how crazy he is.

Darius (Aubrey Plaza) is a sarcastic, defensive lost soul and appears to have at least some kind of genuine interest in the story. Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) is the staff-writer taking the lead but his only interest in the story is that he gets to go to the town where his high school crush lives. Arnau (Karan Soni) is tagging along because he does whatever will look good on his resume. The guy they are hunting down is Kenneth (Mark Duplass) and he truly believes that he is building a time machine. Darius forms an immediate connection with the guy and wants to help him with his adventure. Jeff immediately pegs him as a lunatic, so that just means he has more time to go skirt-chasing.

These are good characters, better written than what you would expect to find in a simple comedy. Each have their reasons for being there; each have a time they want to get back to; and each have something they want to experience. They also appear to be responsible in determining how much you will enjoy this movie. The rave reviews and the standing ovation reports coming out of Sundance all mention how much the characters echo their own lives. As if the writer has found the true essence of being a human being. However, there are people, me included, who don't actually connect to any of the characters but still found their plights and misadventures amusing.

This is a well written film, as most successful indies are. It thrives on witty lines and its ability to fully explore each of the characters. The first point makes it a comedy but the second point, the main one, makes it a drama so be prepared for a more thoughtful journey than just a laugh riot.

It is fairly original, especially with the much talked about ending, but I personally found that the low-budget indie "Juko's Time Machine" (2011) handled a similar concept in a much more ingenious way. "Safety Not Guaranteed" added fresh spins to basic concepts and was funny and entertaining throughout, just be careful with some of the comparisons it's getting.

Safety Not Guaranteed fmovies. Travel in time is definitely my favorite sub-genus of science fiction, and even though I equally adore the creativity of the Back to the Future trilogy, the historical humor of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and the apocalyptic solemnity of The Terminator, I also appreciate the independent films which deal the subject with more sobriety and philosophy. Films like Primer and Suspension have compensated their low budget and visual simplicity with provocative ideas which leave the mechanics of travel aside in order to focus on the melodrama created by the characters, proving that there's no need of flying cars or phone booths when there's an ingenious narrative inhabited by realistic and interesting human beings. Even though I didn't like it as much as Primer or Suspension, the film Safety Not Guaranteed fits into that group, even though it doesn't necessarily include too much time travel. Or maybe it does. I'm not sure...but that uncertainty is one of the best elements from this film.

Safety Not Guaranteed isn't a traditional sci-fi film. There may be time travel, there may be not...but the point of the screenplay isn't finding temporal paradoxes nor playing with historical chronology, but gradually discovering the nature and interaction between interesting characters, each one of them focused into their own "adventure". Screenwriter Derek Connolly built a complex but accessible narrative tapestry, free of unnecessary filler and with ingenious parallels which aren't always apparent, but eventually lead us to a satisfactory ending.

Connolly shows an efficient control over the multiple sub-plots, and they all share subjects in common. And then, we have the perfect performances from the whole cast. Mark Duplass brings a simultaneously likable and mysterious personality to his character, something which is very appropriate. Jake Johnson is very funny in his role; his performance is similar to the one he brings in the sitcom New Girl, even though it feels more emotive and sincere in here. Karan Soni is credible in his character, and supports the other actors very well. However, the revelation of Safety Not Guaranteed is definitely Aubrey Plaza, who is able to express multiple emotional levels with the grim face and cynical attitude of her character.

On the negative side of Safety Not Guaranteed, I can't deny that there are a few pretentious and auto-indulgent scenes. And even though Ryan Miller's score generally complements the scenes well, it occasionally feels a bit affected. Nevertheless, I think Safety Not Guaranteed is a very good movie, and I can recommend it mainly because of its screenplay and its performances.

With a budget of perhaps 10 box tops from some Cocoa Puffs, this film managed to be the most entertaining thing I've seen all year. The entire cast fits together and play off each other in a delightful way and the ending is great without being sappy sweet or maudlin.

I don't want to get into the plot, but Aubrey Plaza's debut as a lead actress is right on target and I see much success for her in the future in a lot more movies. Mark Duplass and Jake Johnson are excellent, and that new kid Karan Soni...well, you'll be seeing more of him in the future is my guess.

This is a film I would see again and again, each time it appears in the future. I would take a date to it, I would take kids to it, I would go by myself.

I would see it in a box, I would see it with a fox, I would see it at your house, I would see it with a mouse, I would see it here or there, I would see it anywhere! You'll like Safety Not Guaranteed, go see it now, be safe, Godspeed!

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Grocery clerk Kenneth (Mark Duplass) places an ad in a local paper asking for someone to go with him as he time travels. He says they'll be paid once they return but safety isn't guaranteed as he's only done this once before. A magazine writer (Jake Johnson) hears about the story and takes a long a couple interns, one named Darius (Aubrey Plaza), quickly gets caught up with the time traveler as she applies for the job without him knowing that she's actually on a job. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED is a pretty strange film to classify because it's part comedy and there are certainly some very light moments but the film also has a tremendous heart, which lets the characters actually be characters and this leads to some pretty dramatic moments. I guess the best way to classify this film is just by calling it life because it pretty much has a little bit of everything in it. What I found so good about the picture is simply how cute and charming it actually is. The reporters go into this story expecting to find a crazy man because we all know that time travel can't happen. What works so well with the film is the fact that you makes you believe that these type of things are possible and you really get caught up with all the characters and their situations. By the time the movie is over, and I won't spoil the ending, you're leaving the theater with a smile on your face no matter what your brain might tell you afterwards. Duplass and Plaza are simply perfect together as both of them bring the weirdness and loneliness out of their characters but they also have such a warm and wonderful chemistry that you can't help but fall for both of them. I also thought Johnson was extremely good in his supporting role as is Karan Soni as the other intern. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED is really a magical little gem that is a breath of fresh air if you're wanting to get away from the loud blockbusters of the summer.