91% Safety Not Guaranteed

All Critics (81) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (74) | Rotten (7)

"Safety" can't sustain its own offbeat energy. By the end, even Aubrey Plaza would roll her eyes at it.

Neatly, the script embarks on one journey while dangling the possibility of another: the prospect of taking a sudden leap from comic reality into the realm of pure imagination.

"Safety Not Guaranteed" is most vibrant and vital at its edges, in the way that the characters interact with each other while waiting for something to happen.

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.

The film is modest but skillful and heartfelt, spiced just so by Plaza and company.

Safety Not Guaranteed casts an enchanting spell from its opening scene.

The superbly-balanced tone of this sweet and sour outsider-romance is the real star of [Trevorrow's] feature debut, though breakout turns by on-the-cusp players Audrey Plaza and Jake M Johnson add to the film's warm and wondrous sense of discovery.

It is an offbeat charmer that is fun and engaging from a storytelling standpoint, but one that also brings a surprisingly rich emotional payoff.

Unlike time travel or jet-setting, "Safety Not Guaranteed" shows that making movies can still be more about the journey than the destination. Whether or not you have first-class tickets.

"Safety Not Guaranteed" is eccentric enough to get mistaken for an uplifting fantasy, but it's Plaza who belongs in the penthouse.

Hope is a powerful thing and Safety Not Guaranteed delivers in its tale of longing, deliverance and connection during the here and now.

An intriguing yet erratic effort...

Less of a philosophical argument and more of a character piece driven deep into the heart by Duplass and Plaza.

Have you ever wondered what mumblecore sci-fi would look like? Wonder no more.

Rather than trying to beat Hollywood at its own game of high-tech gadgets and weaponry, director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly achieve a sly mix of the insane and the mundane.

A character-driven piece about regret and true partnership - our basic, primal need for someone to take the journey with us even if safety is not guaranteed.

Aubrey Plaza is the best thing about this iffy mock-sci-fi doohickey.

As a hipster rom-com about people trying to shake off their pasts to make present-day connections, it's pretty satisfying.

A strange, light-hearted bit of quasi-sci-fi, with no small amount of heart.

The material is played mostly for laughs and succeeds in that regard. The undercurrent of lament in Safety Not Guaranteed, though, is what holds the film together.

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