Kat's Film Reviews: Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

Monday, May 24, 2004

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

A friend of mine has a pet peeve, which is being manipulated in films. He abhors knowing that his emotions are being played with while he's being entertained. I've been secretly amused by this (what film doesn't manipulate your emotions to some degree?) but when I watched this film, I was right there in his shoes. It starts off quite nicely -- British-ly clever, darkly comic, definitely offbeat. Wilbur tries to commit suicide on a regular basis and his brother consistently bails him out at the last minute. You learn about some of the motivation for this behavior, and it seems as if the film will delve into an exploration of the reasons behind Wilbur's guilt feelings and his inability to start a loving relationship. And then, blammo! He falls for his brother's new wife. And something horribly tragic happens to his brother. So, you're contentedly watching this macabre film and it turns into a heavy-duty drama, but without any of the underpinnings of real drama. Instead of reflection on these incredible plot twists, you are treated to scenes between brother and wife that are so sexually charged they leave the sparse number of reflective scenes in the dust. And you wonder what happened to the comedy. Why are the filmmakers making such an effort to merely titillate (a kind word for manipulate)? Result being one very unbelievable film with one very lame ending. I didn't dislike the actors (you'll at least recognize the wife as one of the girlfriends of Bridget Jones), and the male lead is certainly working towards becoming the Scottish equivalent of Colin Farrell (whether that's good or bad is up to you), but they didn't save the picture for me. It ultimately made no sense.

year: 2002
length: 109 min.
rating: 2.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329767/combined

¶ 15:25

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