Four stars. Rating: R, for profanity and mild sensuality
By Derrick Bang
Established writers, when doing
the obligatory meet-and-greet with fans — at book signings or lectures — know
that, sooner or later, somebody will ask the predictable tired question:
“Where do you get your ideas?”
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| Darius (Aubrey Plaza), worried about spooking the odd man that she and her fellow magazine staffers — Arnau (Karan Soni, center) and Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) — have staked out, doesn't want to follow the guy too closely. More to the point, she's beginning to question her motives; can her objectivity survive, if she develops feelings for their target? |
Neil Gaiman used to claim a
subscription to the Idea-of-the-Month Club. Harlan Ellison generally cites
Poughkeepsie. Joe King, son of Stephen King and now an established author in
his own right, has a different geographic source: “Schenectady. They have ’em
on a shelf in a Mom & Pop on Route 147.”
The point, of course, is that
it’s a silly question ... except when it isn’t.
Back in 1997, readers found a
rather bizarre classified ad on page 92 of the September/October issue of
Backwoods Home magazine. It read, in part, “WANTED: Someone to go back in time
with me. This is not a joke ... You’ll get paid after we get back. Safety not
guaranteed.” Replies were directed to a Post Office box in Oakview, California.
The ad became a national
phenomenon. The guys on National Public Radio’s Car Talk read it aloud; it
also was mentioned on other NPR shows. Jay Leno read it on his late-night TV
show. Eventually, bewildering and delighted by all the fuss, Backwoods Home staffer
John Silveira confessed authorship, explaining that the magazine often used
“fillers” when the classified ad section came up short, and that this had
simply been a throwaway joke.
Few people ever read Silveira’s
explanation, though, and the ad’s sense of enchanted whimsy merely intensified,
when it later went viral on the Internet ... which is where it came to the
attention of aspiring screenwriter Derek Connolly, until then known solely for
the pilot episode of a never-sold TV sitcom, Gary: Under Crisis.
Which brings us to the present
day, with Connolly’s debut movie script — Safety Not Guaranteed — having just
won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Connolly’s wry, endearing and
hilariously arch screenplay would be reason enough to see this charmer, but the
film’s highlights don’t stop there. It’s also deftly directed by Colin Trevorrow,
who clearly understood the tone required by this gentle slice of whimsy. The
result is thoroughly delightful: a mildly peculiar, frequently snarky ode to
misfits, very much in the mold of Gregory’s Girl or Benny & Joon.
