What we have here instead is a gentle little Romantic Comedy that uses time travel as a hook to entice curious filmgoers, presumably one with a nerdy disposition for Technobabble-filledTime Travel Tales. The heart of the movie is watching Darius break out of her shell as she slowly falls in love with Kenneth the Cloud Cuckoolander, even as she (and the audience) are left wondering how much of Kenneth's story is true. Filling out the narrative is Jeff, who drives a B-plot as he reconnects with his old girlfriend and teaches Arnau to be more proactive in his love life.
Just as Safety Not Guaranteed defies the usual time travel tropes, it also defies the usual romantic comedy tropes — there aren't any of the obligatory relationship-breaking misunderstandings or Second Act Breakups here, and the humor comes primarily from watching the Cast Full of Crazy characters playing off of the events around them. Fortunately, the characters are all distinctively appealing in their own oddball ways, and the small cast allows plenty of opportunities for them to develop as characters and for the audience to bond with them.
Despite its strengths, though, this picture isn't perfect — while the sideplot with Jeff, Liz, and Arnau helps reinforce the movie's themes of past regrets and lost opportunities, it is ultimately dropped without any real closure and feels like its true purpose was to pad the film and lengthen the run time. And while the Gainax Endingseems to end well for Darius, the lack of any proper closure is a bit bothersome, especially once the credits stop rolling and the viewer wonders what is the fate of the characters.
In the end, Safety Not Guaranteed remains a breezy, easygoing movie to pass the time. Just make sure you know beforehand what you're getting into.
Film A quirky romantic comedy for nerds
Let's get one thing clear in the beginning — Safety Not Guaranteed is not a Time Travel story. You won't find any of the usual brain-breaking time travel tropes in this film, and folks expecting to be buried in Technobabble, walls full of incomprehensible equations, or reality-breaking paradoxes will be disappointed.
What we have here instead is a gentle little Romantic Comedy that uses time travel as a hook to entice curious filmgoers, presumably one with a nerdy disposition for Technobabble-filled Time Travel Tales. The heart of the movie is watching Darius break out of her shell as she slowly falls in love with Kenneth the Cloud Cuckoolander, even as she (and the audience) are left wondering how much of Kenneth's story is true. Filling out the narrative is Jeff, who drives a B-plot as he reconnects with his old girlfriend and teaches Arnau to be more proactive in his love life.
Just as Safety Not Guaranteed defies the usual time travel tropes, it also defies the usual romantic comedy tropes — there aren't any of the obligatory relationship-breaking misunderstandings or Second Act Breakups here, and the humor comes primarily from watching the Cast Full of Crazy characters playing off of the events around them. Fortunately, the characters are all distinctively appealing in their own oddball ways, and the small cast allows plenty of opportunities for them to develop as characters and for the audience to bond with them.
Despite its strengths, though, this picture isn't perfect — while the sideplot with Jeff, Liz, and Arnau helps reinforce the movie's themes of past regrets and lost opportunities, it is ultimately dropped without any real closure and feels like its true purpose was to pad the film and lengthen the run time. And while the Gainax Ending seems to end well for Darius, the lack of any proper closure is a bit bothersome, especially once the credits stop rolling and the viewer wonders what is the fate of the characters.
In the end, Safety Not Guaranteed remains a breezy, easygoing movie to pass the time. Just make sure you know beforehand what you're getting into.