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Safety Not Guaranteed

7th November 2012

"Safety Not Guaranteed"

While not perfect, I did really enjoy this movie and was really pleased I managed to get to see it while it was in the movie theatres. Especially given that going to see "Safety Not Guaranteed" was a random event as we had been planning to see "Looper" instead, but we had been running late and didn't want to hang around for about one and a half hours until the next session of "Looper" started, so we decided to go and see "that other time travel movie" instead.

While I did enjoy it a lot, I do think it is one of those movies that came dangerously close to at best not working/being boring or at worst being something of a disaster. There are a few things in the story line that didn't quite feel right to me -

1) the sub-plot involving the Jeff, (the reporter played by Jake M. Johnson), who used the newspaper ad as an excuse to get an trip to see one of his ex-girlfriends on the magazine's dime and taking the two interns with him who end up doing most of the actual work relating to the article, came across as being forced and over laboured. In a way it feels it was put in and then pushed as much as it was because the writer felt that they needed an extra reason to go.

2) Darius, (the female intern who ended up getting close to the guy who placed the ad and falling in love with him, played by Aubrey Plaza), was supposed to be a weirdo like Kenneth, (the man who placed the ad, played by Mark Duplass), which was set up in a single scene with her father at the start of the movie. Unfortunately, the way she is shown in the rest of the film she comes across as being more along the lines of someone who is deeply unhappy with their life and is depressed as a result, but not as a weirdo. The romance between her and Kenneth comes across as being very unbelievable, as he is shown to be a complete weirdo with very odd behaviour towards other women.

In the end it was one of those movies that managed to rise above any problems to become an enjoyable and entertaining few hours. Admittedly it hasn't stuck around mentally for me, but it is worth seeing once.

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