Mike McCahill 

Safety Not Guaranteed – review

This time-travel romcom wastes lead Aubrey Plaza and dithers until its geek-pandering finale, writes Mike McCahill
  
  

Safety Not Guaranteed
Derivative … Safety Not Guaranteed. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

Eight years ago, Sundance premiered Shane Carruth's coolly conceptual time-travel drama Primer; here's the kooky romcom derivative, dotted with Star Wars nods and "wacky" training montages. Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza plays a Seattle magazine intern investigating a small-town shelf-stacker (Mark Duplass) who has planned a trip back to 2001; the film dithers over how mentally troubled this individual is, until its geek-pandering finale. Plaza's abrasive comic gifts are largely wasted amid the cute-siness, though New Girl's Jake Johnson has a nice supporting turn as a blunt journo, nudging his charges away from his own past mistakes.

 

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