Review of Wristcutters: A Love Story (2007) by Gaelan D — 08 Feb 2010

The premise and title are possibly careless, in that the realm of suicides these people inhabit isn't fleshed out. There's no _reason_ for the movie to be about suicide victims other than the fact that it makes for a cool setting.

As a road-trip romance movie, it's cute and whimsical. The characters are likable, and there are enough strange elements of the world to keep it magical. Tom Waits alone produces enough magic for one movie lifetime. The Gogol Bordello soundtrack is rather lovely as well.

I find the "boy sets out to find ideal girl but falls in love with who he's travelling with" paradigm rather lame at this point, simply because it's stopped being a reaction to traditional romance movies and has become a cliche in itself. When tied to the suicide theme, in that in death the characters have found something to live for, the cliche becomes even shadier. The inoffensive nature of the content may actually make it more questionable than had they actually made some kind of moral judgement I disagreed with.

It doesn't stop me from enjoying this movie lightly, though.