Part road movie, part dark comedy, Wristcutters is based on a short story by Etgar Keret called Kneller's Happy Campers. Set in the afterlife, it's a boring limbo-type place for folks who've committed suicide.
Likable Zia (Patrick Fugit) meets Eugene (Shea Whigham) and Eugene's family (parents and brother) who are all together again in this suicide limbo. When Zia hears that Desiree (Leslie Bibb), his ex, was spotted in the same suicide limbo, he convinces Eugene to embark on a road trip to find her. During this road trip, they pick up hitchhiker Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon) who insists her appearance in this place is an accident--she didn't mean to suicide. She's looking for "the people in charge" to state her case and go back to her living, breathing life on the other side.
The road trip portion of the movie is fun and jaunty. After this, it slows down. Then, enter Kneller (Tom Waits) and the Messiah (Will Arnett), two excellent characters that make the slow-down less tiring. Wristcutters plays like a fairy tale and despite its too perfect an ending, especially for a dark comedy, I liked it. The relationship between Zia and Eugene was realistic and Mikal added both tension and an affecting touch to their bromance. The black hole provides some laughs but in the end, it's too easy of a plot-ending device. I loved that many of the characters had Slavic names.The sounds of Gogol Bordello provide much of the soundtrack. GB is supposed to be Eugene's band (his suicide is worked into a band performance...you'll see). He discusses how much they suck, but it's difficult not to liven up when listening to Gogol Bordello.
Writer/Director: Goran Dukic
Country: US
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 85 minutes
Scale: 3.5
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