Movie Review: Safety Not Guaranteed

Safety Not Guaranteed

Review

From Left: Jake Johnson, Aubrey Plaza and Karan Soni

I always take an interest in these peculiar, indie style films when they arise, and with Safety Not Guaranteed it was no exception. It was on the top of my priority list. 

This film has been swimming around on the other side of the pond, in the US of A for quite some time now  and has only reached the British shores within the last few weeks. So, what did I make of it?.. let's begin.

Firstly the storyline. When first reading the synopsis of the movie: three magazine employees go out to interview a man who is seeking a companion for time travel, I was expecting an unusual film like that of Wes Anderson with his quite odd but unique style of storytelling. This was not the case for this film, but the story was told fantastically nonetheless. I was grateful for the fact that it was not extremely strange because the premise of the tale wouldn't have been as powerful.

The title of the film Safety Not Guaranteed should not be taken in a literal sense. Personally the title and overall story itself represents the various emotional leaps and turmoil's all the characters have to face but more importantly that in life, there is no guarantee of safety when we push ourselves forward.   

Although there were a few eccentric moments here and there, for the most part it was an extremely grounded story in the main. One which I loved and was fully engrossed in. 

Regarding the acting it was stellar from the entire cast. they all behaved extremely naturally considering the eccentricity of the storyline. 

Aubrey Plaza was outstanding as Darius with her morose demeanour. she represented herself as someone constantly searching for something to make her feel alive and Plaza expressed it beautifully. 

Jake Johnson's Jeff was great too with his confident, cocky exterior but ultimately insecure personality. It was a little bit tough to not simply see him as Nick from hit sitcom New Girl on the odd occasion, but that's my problem and the softer side to his character completely removed that issue.   

Mark Duplass's Kenneth was also great as the chemistry between him and Plaza bounced off one another with ease and was entirely believable. He also offered quite a bit of humour with his "madness" but most of the time he provided quite a gripping insight into someone trying to make sense of life.

Karan Soni, who played the intern Arnau did not have as much screen time as the other characters, and it was a little bit unfortunate that he was portrayed in a slight stereotypical manner as the Asian biology geek. But still he played a great part in portraying a nervous, embarrassed young adult.  

As a result this film was fantastic. I have always felt that the best form of storytelling is to tug on the emotional heartstrings of the audience with a simple yet heart warming story, and this film fully achieves that. The pacing was a little bit slow but the small twist and turns along the way made it really interesting to watch. If you are looking for something a little bit different, this film fully deserves your attention

8.5/10