Wow. I just finished this film, Safety Not Guaranteed. It originally premiered at Sundance in January of 2012, but I didn’t get a chance to see until it just got added to Netflix recently.
And. It. Was. Amazing.
The film follows a 30-something magazine writer, Jeff (New Girl’s Jake Johnson), and two of the magazine’s interns, Darius (Parks and Rec’s Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau, as they travel to Ocean View, Washington to find the man that submitted this classified ad. Apparently it’s based on a real ad from 1997? I’ll give you three reasons why I was REALLY excited to see this when I first saw the trailer last year.
1. It has Aubrey Plaza.
2. Aubrey Plaza is from Wilmington, Delaware (aka she understands the pain of spending unnecessary amounts of time in Delaware)
3. Jake Johnson.
I actually found the movie from stalking Jake Johnson on IMDb… so yeah…
He’s the best character in New Girl, just saying. I also knew Aubrey from the little bit of Parks and Rec that I had seen, and a couple interviews where she is basically the coolest person to ever be from Delaware.
The film has the setup of 27 Dresses, where a writer is trying to get a story on a person they assume to be crazy, but then… you guessed it… “everything changed.” The best part!? They don’t even use that line in the movie!! The script is well-written, hilarious, and so original. It won Best Script at Sundance and totally deserved it (I’m sorry it’s probably the only film I’ve seen from last year’s Sundance, but whatever). If I had to pick mainstream films to compare it to, it’s sort of a 27 Dresses plot (combined with Back To The Future), with the quirkiness and originality of one of the most successful indie films of recent times, Little Miss Sunshine (it was done by the same production company).
Also Kristen Bell has a surprise appearance. I was like this when I saw her:
I love Kristen. This film had everything I loved.
The ONLY problem I had with it was that Jake Johnson plays a sort of tool, which was not AT ALL what I was used to. But he still had that same sort of Nick Miller quality that makes him so lovable. Here he is go-karting while realizing that his life is too depressing for him to deal with.
See? It’s the same Nick Miller you love.
Anyway, I highly recommend the film. The film is shot through Panavision lenses, and I have no idea what that means but the whole time I watched the film I kept thinking “these shots are so beautiful!” So yeah.
Also, the ending is completely and totally satisfying, which I can never say about indie films unless they’re Silver Linings Playbook or Sassy Pants. But the way Safety Not Guaranteed does it is much more original.
I can’t get over how much I loved this film. It has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes! Everyone who knows any of these actors should see it, and anyone who loves a elegantly written, hilarious, completely original story about coming to terms with a harsh adult world should see it. It’s amazing. Don’t be rolling your eyes while reading this.
Just go see it.
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