It’s a quirky title, but the storytelling team behind this endearing off-beat comedy, Safety Not Guaranteed, take us on a ride into imaginative territory.
Determined to get the story behind a crazy time-traveller-companion-wanted advertisement, the misfit trio of sleazy Gen X magazine journalist, Jeff (Jake Johnson of A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)) and young interns, the depressed Darius (comedian Aubrey Plaza of Parks and Recreation (TV) fame) and geeky innocent Arnaud (Karan Soni, Are You There, Chelsea? (2012), set out on an increasingly bizarre trip into the perilous world of time traveller Kenneth.
Character-driven comedy with a twist I won’t spoil, the stand-out performance for me is Mark Duplass’s child-man Kenneth, a man for whom moving on is just too hard, and revisiting the past seems the only way to make sense of the present: a theme that true romantics will appreciate. Time travel is dangerous stuff, as Kenneth’s self-made action hero explains to Darius, but it can change your life.
A touch of over-plotting in the latter part of the second act slows the pace slightly, but overall I cannot fault writer Derek Connolly and director Colin Trevorrow’s hilarious, heart-warming comedy for engaging storytelling.
No Bull: Get your backside on a cinema seat now.
The only person laughing more than me was a mysterious stranger in the front row.
SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED preview (I refuse to say trailer):
c. A Room of Heroine 2012
A Room of Heroine 