Small and delightfully self-assured, “Safety Not Guaranteed” celebrates the idea of taking a chance and accepting the unexpected, in ways that are quietly funny. It opens Friday (6/8/12) in limited release.
Coming from first-timers Colin Trevorrow (director) and Derek Connolly (writer), the film is built on that hoariest of devices – a lie that turns real. In this case, it’s one told by Darius Britt (Aubrey Plaza), an intern at a Seattle magazine who isn’t really sure what she wants to do with her life.
But she finds herself volunteering to work with one of the magazine’s reporters, Jeff (Jake Johnson), going with him and another intern (Karan Soni) to a small town outside Seattle. Their quarry: the man who placed a personal ad, seeking a companion to engage in time travel – the ad’s final line being “Safety not guaranteed.”
But as they quickly discover, Kenneth (Mark Duplass) is the suspicious type: He’s not only deeply involved in elaborately technical calculations about what he needs to travel through time. He’s also paranoid that the government is tracking his movements. He may not be far off.
This review continues on my website.