Review of Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002) by Jellyfish O — 18 May 2004

[b]Where:[/b] Bytown[i].

"The life he wanted to end, was just about to begin"[/i].

One line review: Now Jaybird wants to kill himself too. Ugh.

[b].

ATTENTIONAL ALL FUTURE PRODUCERS: WHEN MAKING MOVIES ABOUT WORKING CLASS IRISH/SCOTS PLEASE USE SUBTITLES! [/b]kthanks.

The magic of the editing room strikes again, building an interesting and funny trailer out of a not so interesting movie. I'd expected a black comedy with some romance and I think I got a drama. While it did have its humorous moments, they were few and far between. One thing that threw me for a loop right away was when the main love interest from the trailer marries his brother instead of Wilbur. Nice one, marketroids. You've yet again ruined what could have been an interesting plot twist.

One thing I really didn't like about the movie was how the reason for Wilbur's suicidal tendencies is not explained until very far into the film. We are stuck with a character who tries unsuccessfully to kill himself, but we have no insight into his pain. We only see him through his interactions with the people around him. He's a jerk and an asshole. We feel no empathy for Wilbur. We are too busy laughing at his ridiculous suicide attempts and at the characters in his suicide prevention support group.

I ended up walking out of this film because I wasn't feeling well (the cold I've been fighting all week finally manifest into a chest cold and I had to get out of the theatre to cough. The coughing hasn't stopped). Perhaps there is something I missed in the ending that makes this movie worth seeing, but there certainly wasn't anything in the first hour and a half to redeem it.

Maybe in the future I will see the last 30 minutes and change my mind about this movie. But I'm doubtful.

Acting wise:

Shirley Henderson is quiet good and alluring without being "beautiful". I'm looking forward to seeing her in Intermission.

Adrian Rawlins is naked far too often. Ugh.

James Sives is pretty emotionless as Wilbur, which maybe the intended effect of showing someone who was bored, disaffected and had decided to give up.

The lighting was particularly drab (hey, it's Scotland!) and fit the mood of the movie perfectly. The pacing and character development was very slow. Dull in fact. Plodding.

I was quite disappointed in this film compared to Italian for Beginners. But I'm probably being an ass because I'm sick. My opinion shouldn't even count considering that I missed the end.