Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

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I rarely regret anything that I've done in my life but I still think about how different my life may have been if I had made other choices. I have a very happy life - a wonderful wife, two beautiful children, and great support from my family. I have a good job and get to do a lot of things I love (like writing this blog). But I still wonder - what would my life be like if I would have gone to a different college? Could I have fulfilled what I felt was my potential and become a Major League Baseball player? Did I have the skill and drive to become a professional actor?


Safety Not Guaranteed is, above all things, a movie about regret and our necessary human need to mentally correct our past mistakes and fulfill past desires. Based on an ad by John Silveiria in a 1997 edition of Backwoods Home Magazine, the film centers on Darius (Aubrey Plaza), a young woman with very little ambition working as an intern at a Seattle magazine. When the magazine is struggling with content for the next edition, a journalist (Jake M. Johnson) suggests he take two interns and write a story about the man who wrote an ad in a local newspaper:

"Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed."

Jeff (the journalist) selects Darius and Arnau (Karan Soni), a biology wiz kid looking to diversify his portfolio, and takes them with him to the small beach community in search of this man. While Darius does most of the work tracking down the author, a man named Kenneth Calloway (Mark Duplass), Jeff embarks on his ulterior motive for the trip - to track down a past fling he had from his childhood.
As you'd expect, the parallel plotlines shift and flow in different directions. Darius finds herself deeply fascinated by Kenneth, his erratic behavior, and his passion for this seemingly ridiculous endeavor. Meanwhile, Jeff finds himself slowly being drawn back to this old fling, trying to recapture an attraction he has relived in his head for years. Then there's Arnau, the socially muted voice of reason, whose honesty and naivety is eventually exploited, but in a way that betters the other members of his journalism troupe.

courtesy of examiner.com

Safety Not Guaranteed takes a major risk by hinging its entire story and emotional core on an actress best known for playing a completely dry, deadpan character. In truth, the film doesn't do a whole lot to move away from that. Aubrey Plaza's work on "Parks and Recreation" is following a similar arc that this film pushes in less than 90 minutes: a formerly self-involved, unmotivated young woman who figures out that having a deep-seeded investment in something or someone doesn't make you just another sheep following blindly.While Plaza's character on "Parks" doesn't have (or need) the same explanation for why Darius is so jaded, it's the same concept. While I'm not entirely sure the transformation she is going for completely comes to fruition, Plaza still shows quite a bit more range than I'd expect from her. Her scenes with Duplass grow beyond awkward, uneasy point-counterpoints into much more emotionally-focused, honest conversations that feel believable, for the most part.

What writer Derek Connolly and director Colin Trevorrow try to do here is explore the concept of time travel as a philosophical idea, as opposed to an actual act. While it drives the story, the possibility that Kenneth can actually travel through time is almost irrelevant. Kenneth believes deep in his soul that he can do this. Darius slowly finds herself believing in him as a good person, whether or not he can accomplish this ridiculous feat. Jeff begins to believe in something more than just a carnal need for satisfaction and, while he pushes his agenda onto Arnau, it really never feels as manipulative as it could. Jeff sees a young man who needs the confidence to break out his shell and there's only one way he knows how to do it. So, while they may all have a sick fascination with traveling through time, they all recognize the need for forward progress - finding a way to deal with this twisted world without defining themselves by past mistakes and regret.

Safety Not Guaranteed, above all, serves as a pretty good introduction to feature films for Plaza, another notch in a line of fascinating performances from sudden commodity Mark Duplass (he's also in Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar hopeful Zero Dark Thirty, soon to be released), and more proof that "The New Girl" star Jake M. Johnson is a very charming and likeable actor. While it stumbles in places as it attempts to be a little too far outside the fray, it still manages to bring everything back to center and make for an entertaining 86 minutes.

My wife and I were discussing past relationships in our past over the weekend and, while a few of hers and mine were such damaging train wrecks in retrospect, we also factored in that, without them, we wouldn't be where we are now. There's no use running from your past and there's definitely no need to repeat it. Every decision we make affects what we do in the future and we just need to be prepared to deal with the consequences. After all, safety isn't guaranteed.

SHOULD YOU SEE IT: Encouraged