It happened with “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Juno,” and in a major way with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “The Blair Witch Project.” It most certainly took place with “Pulp Fiction” and “The Passion of the Christ.” These were all thematically unrelated, independently produced art-house movies that went on to do unexpectedly super-size business at the box office while enjoying almost universal critical acclaim. This type of thing is quite rare and sadly, even though most critics loved it, the huge box office thing didn’t happen for “Safety Not Guaranteed” (SNG), although the final take more than quintupled its $750,000 budget.
Based on a real advertisement placed in a Seattle magazine (which also made it on to a segment of “The Tonight Show”), the plot centers around three writers who believe there’s a juicy story behind this: “Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.”
