MOVIE: Safety Not Guaranteed
DIRECTOR: Colin Trevorrow (first feature film)
SCREENWRITER: Derek Connolly (first feature screenplay)
LEAD CAST: Aubrey Plaza, Karan Soni, Jake M. Johnson and Mark Duplass
THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: June 8, 2012
FESTIVAL DATE: Wednesday, May 23 and Friday, May 25
SYNOPSIS: Darius, Amau and Jeff (Aubrey Plaza, Karan Soni and Jake M. Johnson) are three Seattle magazine employees investigating a classified ad posting that reads: WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.
Not taking the ad seriously and thinking they may have a funny little freak show story on their hands, their search leads them to Kenneth (Mark Duplass), but he’s nothing like the crazy person they expected.
QUICK THOUGHTS: If I knew then what I know now… This seems an apt phrase to describe this exploration of those moments in life that stick with us even when we don’t realize it. Safety Not Guaranteed is about capturing and/or re-capturing that feeling through any means possible and living life to its fullest when given the chance. Funny and heartfelt with endearing performances from all its leads, this is a mumblecore feature that stands alongside Jeff, Who Lives at Home as one of the good ones. [B+]
Below is director Colin Trevorrow’s first short film, Home Base, which he wrote and directed back in 2002.
