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Netflix Instant Watch: Safety Not Guaranteed

8/7/2013

4 Comments

 
Picture
Safety Not Guaranteed, But an Entertaining Story Is

Rating B+

I did not have high hopes for this movie, but it truly went beyond my expectations. Safety Not Guaranteed is one of the better-written stories I have seen in a while. Given a lack of creative camera movements and seemingly unintentional jump cuts, the movie feels low budget. More importantly however, it has rich characters that are complimented by honest performances.

The story is about love, but not a love story. Not surprisingly writer Derek Connolly won many awards including the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival where the movie debuted, and Best First Screenplay at the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards. Connolly uses every tool in a writer’s box to entertain and inspire the audience. He starts us off with a great hook, wondering if Kenneth, played by Mark Duplass, can actually time travel, and keeps us continually drawn to it with hints of legitimacy. Depressed, but relatable characters made me root for them all the way through the movie and hope they get what they want. All the main characters change in attempts to reach their goals.

Three people from a Chicago newspaper venture into the suburbs to write a story about a man who has put an ad in a local paper looking for a partner to travel back in time with. Kenneth, who placed the ad, cannot guarantee safety on this adventure to go where nobody has gone before. As Darius, played by Aubrey Plaza, tries to make sense of Kenneth, she loses sight of her job as a reporter in hopes of a greater experience. Safety Not Guaranteed is worth a watch especially with someone you care about.

4 Comments
Mike M.
8/22/2013 09:56:00 am

Excellent review, I agree completely. What a way to start a film career, let's hope Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly are able to expand even further on their skill with character development as they are undoubtedly tapped for bigger projects.

The one critique of the review I would have is to put the description of the plot near the beginning. Other than that it's great and I look forward to reading more.

Reply
Brandon Isaacson
8/23/2013 04:47:48 am

Mike,

First, thank you for leaving feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed the film and review.

On this: "The one critique of the review I would have is to put the description of the plot near the beginning."

Dan and I discussed this once or twice. I forget which review, but he got the idea from a review I had given him as a reference. He previously told me that he was going to go back to the traditional style, as you're requesting, next time.

Dan said to me about the idea of putting plot last: "It makes sense because people interested enough in the movies to read a review, have probably already seen a trailer and know the plot, thus making it the least important, yet neccesary part of the review."

I would add that, as Ebert said, "It's not what a movie is about but how it's about it." Therefore, for me at least, gut reaction is more important than a summary of the plot. Even beyond that, I personally don't like plot in reviews at all because it's so easy to find the plot, why have reviewers re-hash it over and over?

Anyway, just providing the logic that went into the decision. It certainly came from my influence as editor, so my bad. Your criticism is noted, and will be considered in the future. Feedback is greatly appreciated so we can write in the style that our audience desires, so THANKS!!

Reply
Mike M.
8/23/2013 08:06:00 am

Ahh now that you talk about it, I can see what you mean. Definitely the quick film plot blurb is often unnecessary because most people don't seek out and read reviews unless they already know a bit about a film. The real meat of the review is in the reaction to the film, as you mentioned. And that's the portion I always enjoy most.

I guess the main reason I would suggest having the plot blurb at the top is because for the few people who do read the review without having seen the trailer or know the plot (perhaps they like the director or star) they'll have that bit of context to better understand the reviewers reactions. I almost always skip that first paragraph in reviews because I usually don't need context, but I can see the necessity.

Anyway, that's just the opinion of one person, and I'm actually really glad the review was written in the structure that it was because I had never really stopped to think about that kind of thing before. So thank you ^_^

Reply
Mike M.
8/23/2013 08:09:54 am

Also "Safety Not Guaranteed, But an Entertaining Story Is" - I got a kick outta that, and I've always been a fan of letter grading instead of number grading (B+ vs. 8/10), not entirely sure why.




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