I could not resist a movie with a time-travel concept. I never can.

A writer for a magazine, Jeff (Jake Johnson), and two interns, Darius (a girl) (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni) see the want-ad above and track down the guy that posted it. They find Kenneth (Mark Duplass), a quirky supermarket clerk who believes he invented a time machine.

Jeff is a slacker who wants to do the story only so he can hook up with an old high school girlfriend. Arnau is a virgin Indian geek who is hunched over his laptop (game grade) most of the time. Darius is an intense, sarcastic loner.

Kenneth is in the process of training up for the mission to go back to 2001, to make some changes. He lives in the woods, practices martial arts and gun fighting, and steals high-tech equipment from laser companies. In the process he not only attracts the magazine crew, but also government agents. It is Darius who ends up being Kenneth’s compatriot and partner, getting ready for the mission. As the story progresses, she finds that her reason to want to go back in time is similar to that of Kenneth. We find out that Kenneth is definitely paranoid and somewhat crazy.

Or is he?

An offbeat, low-budget movie from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine, Safety Not Guaranteed is delightfully entertaining and suspenseful. It sounds like a comedy, and there are definitely plenty of comedic moments, but it’s also a character study of lonely twenty-somethings in the torrents of life.

Being a time travel buff, wanted to see the time travel. The ending is surprising and leaves the possibilities open.

Rating: ***