I have never really been a fan of Aubrey Plaza. There's no particular reason behind this, it's certainly not a dislike in her performances or the roles she chooses. I just don't think she has really managed to find herself onto my screen much of the time. Thinking about it, I can only name one production that I am certain she is one: Parks and Recreation. There is nothing else (aside from this film) that I can name. To make a few guesses, I feel like in the past she may have worked with Michael Cera or Seth Rogan in some capacity; she seems to have that Comedy Central look to her. Perhaps it is time to give her a chance and go through her library! Though, this was not the reason for watching Safety Not Guaranteed, in fact, it was a coincidence. Lately, struggling to sleep at night, I have been browsing through Prime Video for things to watch, something light to pass the time and hopefully end up more comfortable and prepared to sleep after. Pushing my usual preferences aside, I have found a few interesting films I never would have seen otherwise. Films that are seemingly smaller budget from the last decade, but with interesting casts and stories. The main question I have from this experience, however, is just where was the marketing for these films? Does Hollywood even try to market them anymore unless they're direct to streaming under some sad original title?
Safety Not Guaranteed didn't feel like an indie film, or that it was lower budget either. It was actually a film with quite a lengthy runtime, that went by very quickly with the fun, immersive story it told. To be honest, given that aforementioned lack of experience with Aubrey Plaza, I almost was quick to judge the film and expected it to be a dud; a film I couldn't finish and would just return to the catalog to browse through again. This never happened, instead, I found myself watching the film, enjoying its characters and curious as to where things would go. And with a story that seems focused on time travel, it handles multiple characters that each have their own perception of how time should be spend, giving us a narrative that has comedy, drama, and a bit of science fiction conspiracy to it. I was actually sad to see it end, and even wanted a little more from it due to the enjoyment I had.
Safety Not Guaranteed
We all have our own assumptions on how time should be spent. Some of us dedicate our time to our careers in search of financial freedom and success. Some people believe time is best spent around close friends and family. Some people find themselves in a mixture of them all, balancing the chaos of life and getting by. Though, there are many people that just aren't quite sure of their direction in life. Sort of roaming through it doing the basics required while almost waiting for something to happen, something that may save them from the monotony. There's one thing we all have in common, however: if given the opportunity to go back in time and change something, there would be something you'd want to change. That is to say we all have regrets and losses faced in life, moments we wish could be undone or at the least, done differently. For Safety Not Guaranteed, time travel serves as the main theme in which three characters end up finally coming to terms with the difficulties of their lives, serving as the reason to push beyond and find themselves. Aubrey Plaza's character works as a journalist, alongside two others: one is quite nerdy, constantly on his computer. The other is a selfish, insufferable person that is highly obnoxious. This character played by Jeff Johnson, a great actor that has that obnoxious kind of face and very much suits these roles.
This setup gives us three completely different characters. Their personalities are not compatible in the slightest. But they're thrown together to seek out information based on an interesting newspaper advertisement referring to time travel, and someone needing a companion. Safety not guaranteed! This advertisement sends them off on an adventure in which each of them ultimately faces their hardships. Lost family members, lost love that one hopes to fix. The discovery of the self. While the film is about a supposed crazed conspiracy theorist in the woods building an alleged time machine, it doesn't take long to see that the film is really about these characters and their struggles to accept the past and present. Even our crazed time travel device builder has something he's ultimately attempting to escape from. It makes the character development of the film quite interesting, as the film provides us with a group of characters that seem insufferable to some degree, slowly making us care for them more as we learn about them and why they are the way they are.
Blended in is plenty of adventure to keep the film from seeming too serious and depressing. After all, the excitement of time travel is the theme! Each character sort of goes off on their own throughout this investigation for their own private reasons. There's a lot of sneaking around and comedy thrown into this as the characters have to investigate and even steal equipment in order to contribute to the time machine's development. To which nobody really believes it's actually a real thing or going to work. This film actually had a lot going on at any given time as it switches between the characters, I quite liked this aspect of it. And it's often a difficult thing to pull off if characters don't get enough screentime or story to give us a reason to care for their struggles and growth. I mentioned before that I didn't really notice the two hour runtime, and this was why! I was pleasantly surprised by this film that came out of nowhere. It has the laughs, the drama, and some pretty good directing to it that doesn't at all make you think it's a cheap film. How had I not heard of this film over the years?!
I guess if you're a fan of Aubrey Plaza, you sort of know what to expect from her role. While the film does switch between the characters often, she's definitely the lead here and with the story that gets explored the most. I do think I may have to check out the rest of her library, though. Safety Not Guaranteed won my attention, and I'm curious as to what else might be next!
