“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. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED.”
This real-life classified ad is the setup to the indie comedy “Safety Not Guaranteed,” but the important part is, “This is not a joke.”
The three magazine journalists who decide to report on the man behind this ad aren’t necessarily joking either, but they don’t entirely believe it, and that’s where the movie gets us. Derek Connolly’s screenplay in Colin Trevorrow’s film plays with our expectations by setting up a scenario that can’t and probably shouldn’t be true, and yet one that we kind of root for.
Kenneth (Mark Duplass) really believes he can time travel, and Darius (Aubrey Plaza), the intern doing the story on him undercover, at the very least believes and trusts him, even if she doesn’t think time travel is possible.
The concept of “Safety Not Guaranteed” acts as something of a joke, but all the combat training he puts her through, all the covert operations he partakes in and all the other oddball stuff that happens in it feels honest and genuine. It’s got a low-rent, mumblecore style to it, so that too adds to our kind of mixed sensation. And there’s the nagging doubt in our mind that at the end of the day, one if not all of these characters are either lying or faking.
But this isn’t a quirky film, nor is it an “issue film” where we suspect the Kenneth character may be disabled. Duplass plays Kenneth as sensitive and sincere (which is a change of pace from the snide, confident character he portrays on “The League”), and Plaza matches him with a nurturing side that’s sarcastic, but not uncaring. She is committed to this man and this mission, and that’s what makes it all the sweeter.
There’s a subplot involving Darius’s dirtball boss (Jake Johnson) and his lost love that doesn’t really pan out, but the core story between Darius and Kenneth is fulfilling and true. It uses time travel as something of a metaphor for what it feels like to be reminiscent of the past and lonely in the present, and that too is a beautiful and honest sentiment.
But I guess your pressing question now is, do they actually travel back in time? Well, let’s just say that it has an ending that, were it to happen differently, would betray the sincere and heartfelt film this is.
3 stars
1 thought on “Safety Not Guaranteed”