Catching up with 2012: Safety Not Guaranteed
I was not expecting much from Safety Not Guaranteed. In fact, I was downright wary of it (as I mostly am now with Sundance fodder). It looked like nothing more than one of
those quirky indie comedies filled with cynicism/snark masking as charm that wins over Sundance audiences. But oh
no, this tale of time travel plays it straight. Like, it's both Sundance-y in its rom-com sensibilities but also a science-fiction film about time travel. Not once is the time travel aspect of the film snickered at. And I appreciate that so much from a film of this ilk. When
I heard about this movie, it sounded like nothing more than a film for TV
actors to try their hand at a movie. Okay, let me step back a second because
Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation”), Mark Duplass (“The League”), and Jake
Johnson (“New Girl”) have all starred in films (Duplass writes/directs his with
his brother Jay), but nothing prepared me for actually liking all three of them
here. I catch “New Girl” every now and then when I’m in the room while my wife
watches it; the show is not my cup of tea, and Johnson’s enthusiasm is noticeable
even if he does grate on me at times. Duplass is on “The League” – a hit and
miss (mostly miss) show that so badly wants to be a raunchy version of “Seinfeld”
– but he’s mostly forgettable on a forgettable show. Plaza is the only thing
that attracted me to seeing this movie, and I’m glad I gave it a shot because I
found myself liking the other two (especially Duplass) a lot. I was expecting Safety Not Guaranteed to be
another Diablo Cody-like Indie film, but I was more than pleasantly surprised
to see that it actually has more in common with Spielberg.