Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

I'm a sucker for time travel movies. When I see one offered up as a romantic comedy, well, I enjoy romantic comedies. I just prepare myself for extra goofiness and extra schmaltz. I didn't prepare myself for this film, however. And you know what? That's pretty cool, too. This film is not one of those formulaic, Hollywood genre films. Thank god. I knew going in that this film would be a at least a little off from the standard fare, as it's from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine, which did prepare me for a more 'quirky' character driven type of film.
This film offered me a whole group of really vulnerable characters, each in her or his own way. in one way or another, all of the main characters are socially on the fringe, whether they realize it or not. We start off, almost with cardboard cut-outs of people, but over the course of the film they reveal themselves to be real and interesting. Real is my nice way of saying, "fucked up like me and everyone I know". The course of the film presents some standard situations that arise in romantic comedies, and then reaches different conclusions, but not for the sake of being different, for the sake of being true to the story and the characters. It's great to watch a film where you see the characters develop into someone who cares for and is cared about by those around them. I think the actors really did a splendid job with pulling that off. They accomplish it by being genuine. They could have pulled this off campy like The Goonies, but instead keep it true to the reality of the film like Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind.
And nice use of Star Wars references. I love when Kenneth asks Darius if she has heard of the Star Wars movies and she just rolls her eyes, but has second thoughts and answers that she has, knowing that Kenneth is not trying to take a poke at her by the question, but that he really doesn't know which he illustrates in the following moments. Plus the debate about stormtroopers. Ah, my nerdcore is replenished.

Safety Not Guaranteed on IMDb