ViewGuide

Created Jul 08, 2012 06:22PM PST • Edited Mar 01, 2023 11:42PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Safety not guaranteed, but viewing pleasure is assured from this endearing romcom. It features a smart story about a Miss Lonelyheart falling in love with an apparently crazy time-traveler she’s researching for an exposé. His crazy but real (crazy-real?) scenario meshes well with today’s über-ironic audiences.

   Unfortunately, Safety Not Guaranteed is not easy for audiences to find. It was in a couple theaters in June, then went missing. This week CineArts at Santana Row has it at 5:30 and 10:15. I caught the late show last night with an appreciative crowd that was clearly happy to have successfully sought it out.

   What’s not to like. Safety Not Guaranteed has a really great first-kiss amid the requisite crass comedy. Indeed, romantic comedies may be funnier but they don’t get more romantic than an endearingly smart girl getting the special guy who brings her to life. He even takes her back after she admits lying to him.

   Not that it isn’t plenty funny. Funny enough anyway, with a bunch of chuckles and several LOLs.

   Let’s also hail Safety Not Guaranteed as a mumblecore milestone, given that it’s produced by mumblecore icons Mark & Jay Duplass, with brother Mark also playing the leading man. Indeed it’s fair to say that with Safety Not Guaranteed, the Duplass Brothers go beyond Mumblecore into, oh, let’s call it SciFi Mumblecore. Dudes! What, the dialog’s not improvised? The Mumblecore SciFi Project then. DUDES!

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Aubrey Plaza’s deadpan comic delivery perfectly matches her character’s dependent situation: peon to the lame tyrants at the magazine where she interns, and time-traveling partner to the crazy guy she falls for. Judging by this performance, Plaza’s steady gig on Parks and Recreation might be supplanted by a future on the big screen. And hey, wasn’t that Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Jeff Garlin as her Dad?

   Mark Duplass proves entirely endearing as the crazy time-traveler. Crazy in a good way, that is. Duplass’s real-guy face can be moviestar handsome from some angles, doughy and double-chinned from others. His low key delivery is always just right, however, growing on the viewer as the movie progresses.

   Jake M. Johnson plays a magazine writer constantly on the make for stories, hookups and cheap labor. Johnson’s not quite moviestar handsome and his comic timing seems just a touch off, but he’s damn funny nonetheless and clearly has a future, since most comedies need an asshole.

   Mary Lynn Rajskub impresses in a cameo as his boss and former lover. Chloe from 24 deserves more roles.

   Karan Soni mildly amuses as a nerdy straightarrow who finds himself in the middle of wild life adventures.

   Last but not least, the two hometown girls: Jenica Bergere’s old flame and Kristen Bell’s forever dreamgirl. Both were great.

   The stunning blond who initially obscures our view of Bergere’s real woman — Kristen Bell also, right?

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    Safety Not Guaranteed is a perfect cinematic confection: perfectly executed low-budget – high-concept. For instance, I was gonna settle on Really Great for Direction and Play until the last scene paid off every premise, proving more than I hoped for. Bingo! Perfect.

    It could also serve as a case study in character development, introducing us in quick strokes to the sad girl who would grow up to be the magazine intern at the heart of the story, and then filling in her story with spot-on revelations, many of which paid off in the third reel. Bravo.

    The Duplass Brothers were clearly correct to back a pair of rookies: director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly. Score!

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    Was Derek Connolly inspired by Dan Rather to name his lead character Kenneth? Or maybe it was R.E.M.?

13. Music Great 4.0

    Music is just OK except for the song Kenneth sings Darius, which is absolutely perfect. Let’s then just call the music great overall.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.3

    Why are hip media guys so often depicted as outspoken pigs when it comes to women? Just asking, though perhaps it’s a question better posed in the Reality commentary.

17. Sex Erotic 2.6

18. Violence Gentle 1.5

19. Rudeness Profane 2.7

21. Reality

    Glib 2.0

    No comment.

22. Circumstantial Glib 2.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Supernatural 3.1