Movie Review: SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (2012)
Time Travel movies are a dime a dozen. Some legendary, some stupid beyond belief. And then there’s SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, which is not at all a time travel movie, but rather, a heart warming look at how the concept would really be reacted to in real life.
Rating:
3 Out Of 5 Stars
SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED is about a reporter and 2 of his interns from a Magazine, who follow a story about a man that placed an ad asking for a partner to travel back in time with. They pursue the story as a means of exposing the ridicule the man is spewing, and at best, have a humorous story for their magazine. What ends up happening was probably surprising to all of them, including the audience.
That weird girl from PARKS & RECREATION on NBC, Aubrey Plaza, is in this. However, her weirdness works here, big time. As an intern at this magazine, Darius (WTF kind of name is that for a girl anyways) is anti-social and thinks herself better than most. So when her superior asks her to get close to this weirdo claiming to be able to Time Travel, she fits the bill perfectly.
SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED can be many things, depending on who’s looking. It may turn out to be a statement that even people with mental issues, maybe genuine in their logic, despite how misguided. That they can be related to, be understood and can be great human beings, even in their social oddities. However, this movie could also be just what it is; strange, funny, at times sweet and eventually unexpected.
Plaza plays her bit perfectly as the odd girl who relates to this guy who claims the impossible. They hit it off, and complications obviously arise. The reporter, played by Jake Johnson is probably the best character. His bad-assery and give-a-fuck attitude is admirable and funny as hell. Especially when it’s revealed that he has ulterior reasons for pursuing this story in the first place. The main lead, Mark Duplass as the oddball and alleged Time Traveller is pretty damn good playing a weird sociopath. Or so we think. *wink wink. *nudge nudge.
chemisty… i see it!The Indian Intern is another goldmine for awesome-ness. The clichéd Indian nerd is played to perfection by Karan Soni, and is exploited just as satisfactorily. At times, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED becomes more than what you expect it to be. The sub plots including the reporter reconnecting with his past and the Indian kid’s one chance at not being socially awkward, are amazing and round out the story that much more.
SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED is one of those quirky, oddball comedies, which end up being more than what they are at face value. The ending is probably the most surprising and will leave everyone in awe of WTF just happened, and brilliantly so! It’s a great change up of an existing genre, used to tell a different kind of story.
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