Review of The Darwin Awards (2007) by Xgary X — 04 Jan 2009

Based on the website devoted to people who have removed themselves from the gene pool in variously absurd ways, this cash-in of the idea features Joseph Fiennes doing his best Adrian Monk impersonation as an insurance investigator looking into the claims of those involved.

On paper, this sounds like a great idea but what you get is a half arsed episode of the X-Files, except it's "funny". Except it isn't. They just recreate some of the more ridiculous unintentional suicides while Fiennes and Winona Ryder go through the motions of a completely unconvincing romance and pretend to be insightful by spouting Sunday supplement pop psychology.

Oh, and there's also a serial killer investigation that couldn't be more tacked on if it was written on a post-it stuck on the front of the DVD box. The whole thing just feels like a pilot episode of a TV series that never got made because it only has one idea that doesn't even stretch to the 80 minutes on display here.