On the podcast this week, Steven and Sean are maybe traveling back in time, but maybe not, but also probably definitely actually traveling back in time to save the lives of the people we love in the 2012 film from Colin Trevorrow, Safety Not Guaranteed.
Yeah, we’re definitely traveling back in time. Unless we’re not.
Was anyone else as surprised by the way this movie ended as we were? Sure, there’s still the question of what happened to Darius and Kenneth, but that shouldn’t be enough to yuck your yum, as they say. For my money, they rode off into the time-traveling sunset, lived happily ever after, had a wedding where the color theme was black, and had loads of weird babies. That’s just the sort of outcome I want to imagine. What can I say? I guess I’m a romantic at heart.
But yeah, who would have ever guessed that a film with as much saccharine quirk as this one would have an ending that would make us gasp out loud? Time travel—shouldn’t work, right? What evidence do we have that it’s a real thing that can happen? As far as I know, there’s exactly zero evidence to support it, hence the awed gasps we gave.
What are you going to do if you’re Kenneth, though? You’ve got a pair of possibly government agents hot on your tail and you’ve given yourself a mission to save someone’s life. There’s no other alternative but making a real, working time machine.
Yep, you read that right. I’m saying that the real reason we don’t have fully functioning time travel devices is that we’re not motivated enough to make it happen. We haven’t put in the requisite blood, sweat, and tears. If only we could get off our butts and invent the most life-changing technology in the history of all humanity. Damn Millennials with their laziness and whining! Why don’t you pull yourself up by your bootstraps or some other impossible, nonsensical platitude?
Until that day finally happens, I guess we’re stuck with this fun gem of a movie. It’s got a lot going for it. There’s a definite charm to its fairly low-stakes story. You’d have to try very hard not to fall in love with it. If you don’t, though, you can rest assured that I’ll be traveling back in time to help convince you otherwise. You know, when I can get around to making my dang time travel machine.
(Recorded on May 24, 2021)
Links to Stuff We Mentioned:
Safety Not Guaranteed trailer - YouTube
(The hell is this monstrosity? Humanity, you’ve gone too far with this mess!)
