Doppleganger

My first reaction on hearing this news was: “Who?” Then, second sentence in, I read that Colin Trevorrow is the director of Safety Not Guaranteed.

Wow. Just watched Safety Not Guaranteed on good ol’ Netflix last week. I was THOROUGHLY disappointed. My initial guess? The director missed hitting ANY of the possible notes the film could have taken on. Why? Aubrey Plaza’s performance was uneven – at first she was in her “Daria” mode, as we see in Scott Pilgrim and Parks and Rec, but for the bulk of the film she plays it pretty normal (and a tad bland). Mark Duplass as the male lead is dreadful (and a producer on the film, explaining much). He’s too old, and never once tells me through his performance if he’s crazy, brilliant, dangerous or even likeable. Jake Johnson’s character is a womanizer that has a B-story that is the best thing the film has going for it. When that hits a wall, his character reverts back to exactly where he was before, when we’d need him to be changed by the experience or come back even more despicable than before. The main thrust of the story? The existing structure for mystery, suspense, surprise – all squandered. While we could get something decent with enough money and Spielberg hanging over his shoulder, I have ZERO confidence in JP4.