Staff Picks Blog

I’m going to be honest with you, I was initially drawn to “Safety Not Guaranteed” due to the involvement of the lovely Aubrey Plaza (from my favorite show, Parks & Rec).  I was rewarded with an off-beat, heartfelt indie that won me over despite its misfire of an ending.

The movie follows Darius (Plaza), an intern at a Seattle magazine, who is disinterested and disconnected with her life.  Darius and two other co-workers see a potential story in an odd classified ad from someone who claims to have traveled through time and is looking for a partner to embark on another trip.  They discover that the ad was placed by an intense, but likable, supermarket clerk named Kenneth (played by Mark Duplass).

Darius finds a kindred spirit in Kenneth and soon befriends him.  She’s unsure of his claims, just as the audience is, but you just can’t help but be disarmed by how earnest he is.  Like I said earlier, I wasn’t a fan of the ending (and a quick check on Rotten Tomatoes tells me that it was divisive), but the overall charm of the movie makes it worth watching.