2012: The Year in Film: "Safety Not Guaranteed" Review

"Wanted: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before." Was a classified ad placed in a California newspaper years ago that received tons of attention from the internet and was read by Jay Leno on air. The ad achieved "meme" status, usually by being accompanied by ridiculous pictures of the people who supposedly were responsible. Well, that brief moment of cultural cachet spawned a screenplay and a movie by a first time writer and director produced by the people responsible for "Little Miss Sunshine". Truth be told, I had no interest or even knowledge of this one prior to browsing Aubrey Plaza's IMDB page some months past when I realized that he may be passing the old standby Zooey D by on the "celebrity crush" status. After seeing the trailer and reading some of the post festival buzz, I decided it probably fit the bill for HoB viewing, so I was a cool/popular guy and saw it all by myself on the 4th of July. Just like the founders would have wanted.

So we're introduced to Darius (Aubrey Plaza), a young woman fresh out of college who's always felt melancholy and out of place, especially since the death of her mother some years ago. She's a bored intern at a Seattle magazine when during a brainstorm session, a writer (New Girl's Jake Johnson) puts forth the idea to do a story on a classified ad seeking help to go back in time. Darius, intrigued by this break from the norm volunteers along with a shy intern, Arnau (newcomer Karan Soni) to accompany Jeff to the sleepy ocean town where the PO box for the ad is located. It becomes clear that more is going on with the ad than it initially appeared as our characters track down the man responsible for the ad, a guy named Kenneth (indie dude Mark Duplass of "The League") who may or may not be in way over his head with his adventures in time travel.

This is a tiny, tiny flick, with all of 6 named characters and settings limited to: a house, the woods, a grocery store, an office, a hotel room, a car, and a bar. The intimacy of the flick and the silly nature of the plot of the film and the story itself as being researched and written by the main characters means that it comes down to the actors to flesh out these people and make this flick something worth watching. Luckily, they do not disappoint.
 

This film becomes less and less about the story being written and more about the connections between characters and that our characters seek. Cynical urbanites are contrasted against the residents of a sleepy shoreside town, and challenged when their snark is countered with sincerity.  Darius finds herself drawn to the equally lonely and lost Kenneth, and finds that what started as a research assignment is becoming an actual connection, of which she has few, if any.  The cynical, selfish, lazy, drunk Jeff finds his worldview somewhat shattered in what may well be an early-onset  mid-life crisis, and finds himself bonding with interns that were days before complete strangers. 

This film manages to be funny and sweet without mocking or feeling false.. a tough road to travel when one considers that the entire narrative is driven by a guy who put an ad seeking time travel companions.  This film is made by the performances of Duplass, Plaza and Johnson.  These are real, damaged people.. who make believable decisions, say believable things, question themselves, and are flawed yet ultimately likable.  The key is Duplass.  In playing a guy who sincerely believes he can travel through time, it would have been easy to pass him off as a paranoid nutcase... and he is, but not totally.  His sincerity and ultimate kindness is endearing, and you find yourself rooting for the guy, despite what are undoubtedly creepy undertones.  Plaza more than holds her own, proving that she has quite a career ahead of her as a sort of more talented female version of Michael Cera.. and Jake Johnson's star is certainly rising.  If you watch "New Girl" you know that Nick is probably the most likable character on the show despite ultimately being kind of a dirtbag slacker, and the same holds true here... Jeff is definitely a scumbag, but you like the guy.  I'm pumped to see where his career heads.

I like the decisions that the film made, loved the authentic-feeling connections that arose between the characters and found the film, at its core, to be sweet and funny and endearing and hopeful and fun.  The film is ultimately too lean and small (80 minutes ish) to achieve true greatness, but considering the premise, that's almost more of an achievement than a knock.  As far as indie dramedies go, this is one of the better ones I've seen in the last few years.

8/10.