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- iHaveNet.com: Movie Reviews
3 stars
Sardonic like its heroine but, at heart, a sweetie, the fetching new comedy "Safety Not Guaranteed" came through the
You can do a lot with that premise. Making their feature debuts, screenwriter Derek Connolly and director Colin Trevorrow -- former "Saturday Night Live" interns -- set up their version of events as a progression from cynical, dead-end expectations to a wild, optimistic leap of faith.
Aubrey Plaza of "Parks and Recreation" plays Darius, whose character name evokes the
What do they find when they get to Ocean View, Wash.? They find a twitchy but resourceful loner with big ideas and a willingness to break a few laws. He's the sort of fellow Tom Waits wrote about when he wrote "What's He Building in There?"
The characters also find romantic fulfillment of an intriguingly varied sort. The boss is interested in the assignment only because it puts him in proximity with his first love, whom he hasn't seen for decades. And as she enters the good graces of Kenneth (Duplass), for the sake of the story, Darius starts falling for her subject.
The movie isn't a high-energy, down-your-throat kind of experience; it fills its trim 87-minute running time with a relaxed and often witty eye for the telling detail, as when Darius questions co-worker Arnau (Soni) about the flame decals on his laptop, or when Kenneth's rationale for a time-travel experiment turns out to be something other than advertised. You may buy the ending or not. The filmmakers certainly do, which helps. And the film is modest but skillful and heartfelt, spiced just so by Plaza and company.
MPAA rating: R (for language including some sexual references).
Running time: 1:27.
Cast: Aubrey Plaza (Darius Britt); Jake M. Johnson (Jeff Schwensen); Mark Duplass (Kenneth Calloway); Karan Soni (Arnau).
Credits: Directed by Colin Trevorrow; written by Derek Connolly; produced by Trevorrow, Connolly, Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf and Stephanie Langhoff. A FilmDistrict release.
Copyright © Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Safety Not Guaranteed Movie Review - Aubrey Plaza and Jake M. Johnson