Safety Not Guaranteed is a 2012 American science fiction comedy film directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass.

One of the magazine's writers, Jeff Schwensen, proposes to investigate a newspaper classified ad that reads:[6] *WANTED* Someone to go back in time with me.

I have only done this once before.Jeff's boss Bridget approves of his story idea and Jeff selects his team: Darius and Arnau, a studious UW student interning at the magazine to diversify his résumé for medical school applications.

Jeff's ulterior motive for this out-of-town assignment is to track down his long-lost love interest who lives in town.

Darius's disaffected attitude serves her well, and she quickly endears herself to Kenneth as she poses as a candidate to accompany him on his mission.

While Kenneth is paranoid and believes secret agents are tracking his every move, Darius gains his trust as she participates in a series of training exercises in the woods around his house and she begins to develop feelings for him.

A filmed interview, presumably from earlier, shows Kenneth explaining why he chose to enlist a partner for his time travels.

The ad was featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and discussed repeatedly on the Car Talk radio series.

Connolly wrote a first draft of the script as a buddy comedy but later re-wrote the lead role with Plaza in mind, after seeing her performance in Funny People.

Wanting to gain permission of the ad's writer to adapt the concept into a film, Connolly eventually tracked down Silveira who gave his blessing.

The site's critical consensus states: "Safety Not Guaranteed's ostensibly modest ambitions are outmatched by the movie's strong performances, beguiling charm, and heartfelt story.

[12] Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the story's shenanigans are "harnessed to a plaintive underlying theme about the fading dreams of those aspiring professionals in their 20s and 30s.

"[13] Roger Ebert praised the film for the quality of the dialogue, characters with depth and dimension, as well as Mark Duplass for his balanced performance.