Safety Not Guaranteed

For a film based on a classified ad that was posted as a joke/filler ad in the 90s, Safety Not Guaranteed was not awful as one might expect. In fact, the story-lines in the film were remarkably earnest and more than sufficiently entertaining.

Kenneth placed a classified ad seeking a companion for a time traveling expedition warning that he had only done it once before and safety was not guaranteed. One magazine employee, Jeff, along with two interns, Arnau & Darius, were assigned to investigate and report on what this Kenneth guy was all about. In the process of learning more about the temporally mysterious Kenneth, they find out about themselves and each other. There was an overwhelming amount of self-discovery in this film which could have gotten old fast. But surprisingly it didn't. At least not for me. And I think that may be because of how the robust and honest stories unfolded, how the weirdness happened, and how the friendships blossomed so convincingly in the film.

(FilmDistrict and Big Beach)

Kenneth, played by Mark Duplass, was a tough nut to crack. He was the sort of guy who does a balancing act on the thin line between endearing and annoying. He acted as though he was stronger and more intelligent than he actually was and he had a mullet. Darius, played by Aubrey Plaza, was the female intern who was able to gain the trust of Kenneth. She was a loner-girl with family issues. She was likable and witty, but she keeps most people at a distance. The chemistry between the two of them was quite distinct. Their story-line seemed to be the main focus of the film but it was obvious early on that their story alone was not enough to support the entire film. Thankfully, you have the ever-so-full-of-himself Jeff, played by Jake M. Johnson, and the not-even-remotely-close-to-full-of-himself Arnau, played by Karan Soni. These two end up spending less time working on the article about the "time-travelling" Kenneth and more time learning how to come out from behind their emotionally protective barriers and behave like normal and functioning humans. Jeff started off as a prick but after spending time with the super shy Arnau he became slightly less prickish, almost respectable. And Arnau’s confidence meter climbed a few noticeable notches throughout the course of the movie. They were characters who were worth the time invested in watching the film.

When you break it down each of the four main characters in the film could be classified as depressed, but depressed in an 'entertaining to watch' kind of way. It was impressive how well the characters came across as real people. I have met Kenneth's and Arnau's before, several, in fact and all in primary school. You can be certain there is a douchey Jeff on almost every street corner. And there are probably loads of Darius’ in the world, although most of them are not as thin and pretty as Plaza. It was nice to watch these true-to-life characters evolve the way they did in the film. It was not nice to see Plaza and Duplass kiss though. As much as they worked well together, the two of them kissing somehow felt wrong. There were little things like that throughout the film. It was full of a number of strange contrasts. But all the complaints I had about film were balanced out by some thing to praise about the film. It was familiar yet unexpected, serious yet silly, and just what I was looking for yet I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for.