If you had a chance to go back in time, what would you change? Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass star in Safety Not Guaranteed, a comedy about time-travel that always leaves the audience guessing. A Sundance Film Festival favorite, Safety Not Guaranteed features strong lead performances and a captivating premise that will have its characters embark on a quest of awakenings.
Safety Not Guaranteed all started when screenwriter Derek Connolly found an ad in a newspaper in which someone was looking for a companion on a time-travel expedition. “WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91, Ocean View, WA 99393. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” This concept is turned into a wild story where magazine writer (Jake Johnson) and his two interns, must find the person you placed the classified ad and find if her is for real. What they don’t expect is that the interviewee is kind of odd.
Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) in her first leading role is fantastic. She plays a Darius, a young woman who is floundering around life after the unfortunate death of her mother some years ago. She feels responsible for the catastrophic accident and the melancholy attitude deters her from succeeding. Plaza has a lot of screen presence and is able to play Darius as a woman who needs healing from her past and she gets it from the most unlikely suitor. Mark Duplass (Humpday, Your Sister’s Sister), playing, Kenneth, who placed the classified ad, is completely unhinged. His portrayal has a fine line to walk. There’s always a question of whether he is serious about time-traveling. There’s a fine line between genius and insanity and Kenneth might be the empitimy of that definition.
Some movies don’t know how to pace properly. Safety Not Guaranteed has been edited into a finely crafted movie. There’s not a second wasted in the entire film and it never overextends its welcome. It almost as if 85 minutes was the sweet-spot for the film to meet, which does leave the character played by Jake Johnson, to feel a little incomplete. His story about trying to rekindle a romance is a captivating subplot and continues to showcase how these characters can’t let go of the past.
Director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly have created an intriguing story out of a classified ad. Safety Not Guaranteed takes the premise of the ad and turns it into a story about growth and letting go of the past. While looking for that past they discover what they have in the present. Safety Not Guaranteed is thoroughly satisfying and look for Aubrey Plaza in a lot more features soon.
