Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

 



Dir: Colin Treverrow
Writer: Derek Connolly
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson

I saw this movie this past summer and it was quite the difference from the movie I'd seen earlier in the day -- Prometheus. However, I took to the small, independent, and heartfelt movie. It may also be because I love Mark Duplass in everything.

The movie is about a loner magazine intern who doesn't quite fit in with her surroundings, no matter what they might be. Plaza plays Darius with her usual acerbic wit, but the softer side of her was there, too. Her boss (Johnson) brings her along on his assignment to seek out the author of the 'Safety Not Guaranteed' ad (on the poster), and that's where we find Duplass as Kenneth, a slightly weirder loner, but one that Darius instantly connects with.

While the plot was a bit shallow--never diving too deep--the movie was enjoyable, especially the scenes betwen Darius and Kenneth. I was not as taken with Johnson's secondary plotline of finding an old love, but it makes sense with the themes of the movie.

The ending was probably the part that really got me. I liked the movie, but then the end had me grinning from ear to ear. It's not the year's best movie, but it might be its most feel-good. At least for me.

The Best: Mark Duplass. Because he's having quite a year, for good reason! See his other 2012 roster: Your Sister's Sister, Darling Companion, People Like Us, The League, The Mindy Project, Zero Dark Thirty.

 



Fact: The ad that the movie revolves around is a real ad that was run in a 1997 issue of Backwoods Home Magazine. It was a last-minute filler by a guy who worked at the magazine, and eventually circulated on television and the internet. In the movie, the original author of the ad makes a cameo as the first guy to open a PO box that Darius and her co-intern are watching.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)