Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Utterly charming yet extremely quirky, this story about 3 cynical reporters following up on a classified ad promising time travel is great fun. Aubrey Plaza is worthy of her first starring role after 68 episodes as April in Parks & Recreation, and small parts in Funny People, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Damsels in Distress. Her character's name is Darius, which I was never sure I had heard correctly and finally I read it on imdb. Jake Johnson, who plays Nick on New Girl and has been in some movies, is pretty funny as the narcissistic reporter Jeff who has personal reasons for taking intern Darius and another intern on the story, and Mark Duplass (better known for directing with his brother Jay, last mentioned in these pages in Jeff, Who Lives at Home, has a number of acting credits, including winning the Bend Film Festival award for Best Lead Actor in The Puffy Chair (2005) and a few other roles) is good as the intense, paranoid would-be time traveler, Kenneth. This is the dramatic feature debut for both director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly and they have crafted some entertaining weirdos for our enjoyment.

Touted as being "from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine," the ten producers, including both Duplass brothers, Trevorrow, and Connolly, have an impressive combined body of work, also including Adaptation (2002), Everything is Illuminated (2005), Chop Shop, Sunshine Cleaning, Away We Go, Is Anybody There?, Jack Goes Boating, and more.

The classified ad was really placed, as a spoof in 1997, by this guy. The filmmakers moved the location from California to Washington state, shooting in Seattle and Ocean Shores, and built a great plot out of it. According to imdb, the first person who walks into the post office is the ad writer, Silveira, credited as a "Time Travel Consultant."

We saw it a week ago, but I still remember how much I liked Ryan Miller's music. While writing this I've been listening to clips from the movie's official website (update in 2013: the website is down, but clips are available from amazon).

Highly rated (92% critics, 89% audiences on rottentomatoes) this is well worth your time. It has already made this year's list of nominees and winners. Check it out in an air conditioned theatre before it leaves town.