150 Word Review: 'Wristcutters: A Love Story' (2006)
End of the road
This is a macabre indie romantic comedy about suicide. And it works, for the most part. The danger with a movie like Wristcutters: A Love Story is that the high concept can swallow anything human. Director Goran Dukić avoids this by creating a painfully funny afterlife for people who’ve killed—or “offed”—themselves. This dimension is a dour reflection of the land of the living. The colors are muted. Nothing works. No one can smile.
Baby-faced Patrick Fugit is sent to this tedious purgatory after killing himself over a breakup. He meets a young Shea Whigham, a Russian rocker whose entire family has joined him in Undead Southern California. There’s a road trip to find a lost love in a car that’s also a portal to an abyss. The women are underwritten a bit, but hey! Tom Waits! Wristcutters: A Love Story lives up to its subtitle. I found it unexpectedly poignant.
The only downside is you’ll get that Russian punk song stuck in your head for the rest of your life.
I miss seeing Shannyn Sossamon in things.