Safety Not Guaranteed
FilmDistrict | Release Date: June 8, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 14, 2012
It's equally endearing as a sweetly funny romance between two likable oddballs and as a low-tech time-travel thriller, and has something profound to say about making the most of the present. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJun 13, 2012
Safety Not Guaranteed not only has dialogue that's about something, but characters who have some depth and dimension. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 22, 2012
Even if something feels crazy -- whether it's falling in with a self-taught time-traveler, or buying into a charming but faintly flawed movie premise -- if you listen to your gut, wonderful things can happen. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 14, 2012
This is the rare movie with no one to root against, a film filled with good guys and weird guys (and gals), all of whom you hope find what they're looking for, even if you know that's not possible. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 11, 2012
The real revelation here is Plaza, whose shtick - the willowy cutie deadpanning about how lousy her life is - should be grating and tired, but it works remarkably well for some reason. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJun 7, 2012
Delightful proof that money and fame have nothing on ingenuity and wit, Safety Not Guaranteed is worth a million meaningless blockbusters. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJun 4, 2012
Aubrey Plaza proves she can carry a film with this multiplex-friendly comedy about time travel. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangJun 4, 2012
Develops into an endearingly scrappy and romantic romp that serves up some nice soul-searching moments alongside a steady stream of laughs. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJun 14, 2012
Call me biased, but I'm quick to put out the welcome mat for any movie – good, bad or indifferent – that resists easy categorizing. That's certainly the charm of Safety NotGuaranteed, which flirts with two very different genres yet never goes steady with either. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 14, 2012
It's brisk and assured and never begs the audience's indulgence. No time is wasted. The movie is, at every moment, either funny or pushing the story forward, or both. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 14, 2012
It's about time: Aubrey Plaza gets her own movie! Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 14, 2012
As happens with many time-travel films, this one ultimately paints itself into a bit of a narrative corner. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 14, 2012
The final scenes deliver a payoff worthy of the film's scrappy optimism, but that may not be the reason you walk out of the theater on a cloud. It's the sight of a character coming rapturously into her own at the same time as the actress playing her. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 14, 2012
You may buy the ending or not. The filmmakers certainly do, which helps. And the film is modest but skillful and heartfelt, spiced just so by Plaza and company. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 12, 2012
For the most part, Safety Not Guaranteed is a pleasant viewing experience, but there is a flaw. While Darius is bonding with Kenneth, Jeff is reconnecting with his past. This subplot goes nowhere. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJun 7, 2012
The main flaw is that, as an actor, Duplass isn't able to make the audience love him. Picture "Bottle Rocket"-era Owen Wilson in the role, and you've got something special. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 7, 2012
Director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly keep the film humming with funny and touching surprises. And Plaza is a flat-out enchantress. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubSam AdamsJun 6, 2012
It's a tribute to Plaza and Duplass that they're able to make such slight material resonate at all, let alone with the poignancy they occasionally find. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJun 6, 2012
Safety Not Guaranteed is a fable of ''redemption,'' and it's too tidy by half, but it is also very sweetly told. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoJun 4, 2012
More focused on emotion than adventure, it teases out the possibilities and perils of time travel without embroiling itself in the confusion inherent to the subject. Read full review
70
MovielineAlison WillmoreJun 7, 2012
Safety Not Guaranteed is permeated with that aura of unfocused melancholy common to so many indies these days -- what are we all so damn sad about? -- but by tying it back to characters that don't seem popped from any too-familiar mold, the film allows its sense of regret, its alarm at time passing, to feel earned. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJun 7, 2012
That time machine - a wonderful-looking gizmo with some lasers stolen from a medical laboratory - really exists. Whether it works or not, you'll have to see for yourself. It's worth the wait. Read full review
70
TimeMary PolsJun 7, 2012
Touching, generous, sweet, this little slip of a movie puts you under some kind of spell. Read full review
70
Village VoiceKarina LongworthJun 5, 2012
A viewer's patience with some of Safety's more rote stretches is rewarded in the film's final 15 minutes, when the plot takes a truly unexpected turn. As a DIY answer to the Spielberg generation's nostalgia for movie magic, the film's fully earnest, fantastic climax beats something like "Super 8" at its own game for a fraction of the cost. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJun 13, 2012
I found myself falling for it, hard. It's Trevorrow's feature debut and we'd like to see more, please. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJun 7, 2012
The movie shifts awkwardly from slapstick firearms training sessions to tender campfire kisses to straightforward suspense (who are those mysterious trench-coated figures?). Combined with unconvincing behavior from all of its characters, that's enough to leave this a disappointing realization of a potentially fascinating idea. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 22, 2012
Eccentric enough to get mistaken for an uplifting fantasy, but it's Plaza who belongs in the penthouse. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderDrew HuntJun 14, 2012
Where the narrative and characterization work, the visuals are lacking. Director Colin Trevorrow's digital cinematography occasionally resembles a YouTube video in mid-buffer, making the gorgeous and picturesque setting of the Pacific Northwest coastline appear bland and texture-less. Read full review
60
SlateDana StevensJun 10, 2012
I was onboard with the gentle charm of Safety Not Guaranteed until these last few scenes, when the genuine trauma suffered by these characters - especially Kenneth, whose paranoia and isolationism seem like symptoms of real mental illness - gets glossed over in an unconvincingly Spielbergian happy ending. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 5, 2012
Safety Not Guaranteed doesn't quite know what kind of comedy it wants to be; the humor works best in its first hour, when the news-of-the-weird plot takes on a suggestive dimension of romantic desperation. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovJun 5, 2012
Not sure if you'll enjoy Safety Not Guaranteed? Here's a quick litmus test: how do you feel about watching Mark Duplass, accompanying himself on zither (!), singing a heartfelt song about how "everyone in the big machine tries to break your heart?" Read full review
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