Review of Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) by Flipje — 26 May 2021

I think it's perfectly okay to adore certain films. Safety Not Guaranteed feels indy darling without steeping the viewer into long silences between characters, near achingly boring montages of landscapes or providing the audience with a sullen, conflicted if not outright dreary, melancholic ending.

This is a good romp and deserves more praise. The plot is pretty staightforward. Darius (Plaza) is a dour and less-than-thrilled intern at Seattle Magazine (office gopher, here - toilet paper and coffee fetcher extraordinaire) and one of the writers at the company, smarmy Jeff (Johnson), happens across a classified ad from the small, seaside town of Oceanview.

The writer of the ad is looking for a time traveling companion. Darius and fellow intern, the socially awkward Arnau (Soni) join Jeff on the investigative journey. Jeff's reason for wanting to take on this assignment is revealed and true to character: the Escalade-driving writer wants to hook up with a lost love from his teens.

A blast from the past, so to speak. Meanwhile, Jeff first introduces himself to the writer of the ad (Duplass) but its Darius who hits it off. Cue the slow falling in love and the great, surprise ending.

What I appreciate about this film is that the secondary characters are given screentime and, we are not left with two-dimension portrayals. Jeff is eventually burned by his rekindled flame and this inspires him to become a quasi-mentor of love and life for Arnau.

Jeff also eventually grows to admire Darius's affection for Kenneth, the would-be time traveler. Of course there are kinks in his character and Kenneth, while espousing noble reasons for traveling back, namely to rescue a girlfriend from a tragedy, you find out the other side from the surviving girlfriend (Bell).

A great fun film that is heartwarming towards the end (typically unappreciated by die-hard indy film lovers that want angst with a side of burnt eggs and black coffee in their maudlin movies.)Give it a watch.