Safety Not Guaranteed is a comedy drama romance film directed by Colin Trevorrow. The plot follows three reporters as they interview a man (Mark Duplass) who say he is producing a means to travel back in time. One of the reporters Darius (Aubrey Plaza), is send in undercover with wannbe time traveller Kenneth (Duplass), only to end up falling in love with him and finding out that he does in fact have a means of getting back to the past.
I enjoyed this film quite a bit, I think that it works on two layers. Firstly it works as a great science fiction film, the time travel stuff is fascinating, and I like how they don’t reveal it one way or the other until the end of the film. Secondly it works as a great rom com as well the relationships feel very genuine and believable, Duplass and Plaza have great on-screen chemistry.
The film has a great heart and a few good laugh out loud monuments. My personal favourite character was probably Jeff (Jake Johnson), because I loved what they did with a character who is basically a jerk to everyone around him showing his tragic motivation, he is fundamentally lonely. Normally I am against subplots about side characters, but in this case it worked. Also I am a huge New Girl fan.
Overall, a very strong indie darling with a great heart and some mind-bending science fiction.
Pros.
The heart
The humour
The chemistry between the leads
The ending reveal
Jake Johnson
Cons.
It starts a little slow.
4.5/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 