There are few notions as compelling as the idea of time travel. Whether it’s the chance to make good on a past mistake, the opportunity to change the course of history, or the possibility of witnessing the far-flung future, moving through time has always held a particular fascination for the more imaginative folks among us. That’s why it’s not hard to envision the idea of a person getting a little too obsessed with the notion — and maybe going a bit bonkers in the process.
In the new film Safety Not Guaranteed, indie fave Mark Duplass (Humpday, The League) plays a man looking for a time-traveling companion via a classified ad in Backwoods magazine. Parks & Recreation‘s Aubrey Plaza is the woman who responds, as part of a journalist’s attempt to see just how crazy this guy is. But is he really nuts or is there something more to the story? Watch the trailer after the jump and decide for yourself, then join us for a look at some of our other favorite chronally challenged figures in pop culture, from an overstimulated boy and his tiger to a murderous cyborg with the face of a governor.
Safety Not Guaranteed trailer
“Doc” Emmett Brown, Back to the Future
Perhaps the most likely of this bunch to have his sanity challenged, Emmett Brown built himself a time machine out of a DeLorean (after stealing plutonium from a terrorist group, natch), and launched one of the most enduring film trilogies of all time in the process. And as much as Marty McFly is clearly our hero in Back to the Future, we’ll always hold a place in our hearts for Doc, his wide-eyed stare, and exclamation of “Great Scott!”
