Safety Not Guaranteed

I'm starting to believe that there are two reasons or two ways to make a movie. One, the movie exists to tell a story not so much about people but a just a story. Two, the movie exists to teach us about people. A story is told and it's a story about people, in the general all encompassing way, that is to say, humans.

On one hand, I'm thinking that Titanic is a movie about a story. I'm willing to say that Ghost Writer, Haywire, and Avengers are all just stories that have people or persons as props or voices. On the other hand, Forest Gump, Lawrence of Arabia, There Will Be Blood, The Right Stuff (some of my favorites) are movies that obviously tell a story. They're great though because they teach about humans. It's that they share with us, they foster imagination and empathy. This designation is observed in how a plot is folded into the characters versus the characters folding into the plot. A writer or director seemingly makes a decision on behalf of the characters. Will the character's dialogue further the plot in the first place or will it further the emotional appeal of a character's plight. Maybe we could call this plot versus plight. This is about as far as I'm willing to take this designation at the moment because for now it's more of a feeling than it is a science. It's a hypothesis more than it is a law. Indeed, I love great movies that are just stories, so don't take this the wrong way. But I might be loving movies that are not just stories more than I love just stories. To call both of these versions of a movie, 'stories' might be inaccurate. I'm going to stop now cause you need to hear about Safety Not Guaranteed.

It starts with a personal ad in a newspaper from Ocean Beach, Washington, U.S.A. The poster is looking for a companion to time travel with. The poster has only done it once and he/she can't promise safety and he/she asks that the companion bring their own weapons. The wording of the ad and the jest of the journalist that pitches the idea of tracking down the foreseeable, W.O.W. enthusiast for a hopefully, humorous story leads us to believe that we're dealing with a poster that's going to be heart-warming. From the start I felt like I was watching Cool Runnings on a couch in my best friend's basement cause our Saturday little league game had been rained out. Things around me were pleasant and I settled in for a more adult, intellectual Cool Runnings experience. Aubrey Plaza and the Indian (could have been black) sidekick were emerging as more than just props in the early scenes and I was glad for that. Characters were the story as opposed to the story using some characters. Aubrey and the sidekick are interns for the abrasive, arrogant but affable journalist, Jeff (Jake Johnson). Jeff posed the story as something that could be funny but it also gave him an excuse to track down a high school hook-up. Off to Ocean Beach in Jeff's Escalade. Aubrey is staid and aloof. Sidekick is playing computer games. Jeff is hungover. Great start.

We then get to meet Kenneth (Mark Duplass). Duplass is the real deal. I'm told that he's jumping around Hollywood, meeting with and performing for and writing for and directing for big timerz. His character on The League does so well fulfilling a role in every group of guys raised on Sportscenter and internet pornography that it's eery. He steals the show on The League and does the same in Safety Not Guaranteed. He believes in time travel and believes in himself and I believe that Duplass was Kenneth. Back To The Future and a whole slew of other time travel movies have never encountered a better recipe for time travel - belief in it and belief in self. Science aside, I'll side with a character that believes like Kenneth does for making the unreal a reality. Isn't this what I'm talking about? Real people as opposed to semi-real character that just don't say much? Kenneth says something in this movie and the writers (Duplass and one of his buddies) deserve some recognition for pulling this off. "My calculations are flippin' pinpoint." I mean this movie had so many opportunities to completely wipe-out and fail miserably. Duplass and Kenneth, together, walked over the coals and quicksand with ease. Gosh, this movie is good.

So this is all I'm going to say because I want you to see this movie. Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson, Plummer, and Karan Soni (Indian sidekick), achieve Goonie-esque sportsmanship and team work and likeableness. With my ten year high school reunion on the horizon I'm urged to think about high school because of this movie. I mean how many movies have been inspired by our collective high school experiences? Be it the turmoil eccentric writers, directors, actors, and producers had to endure or be it their hilarious experiences or be it their tumultuous, tortuous experiences or be it the stories they (Kenneth) want to go back and re-write, there is something to all of this in Hollywood and plenty of all this in Safety Not Guaranteed. No doubt, you'll leave the theater with the same feeling I did when I'd leave my best friend's basement after a Saturday rain-out matinee. And, depending on how affirmed you felt in high school, you'll raise your fist as Jeff does in the last scene, a perfect scene.