Post by Dracula on Aug 30, 2022 20:05:19 GMT -5
On the Count of Three(8/17/2022)
On the Count of Three is a film that was marketed as an edgy dark comedy revolving around the very sensitive and complicated topics of depression and suicide, and it certainly is about those things but its maybe less of an actual comedy than the marketing might suggest. The film does begin with a pair of friends, one clinically depressed and the other going through a major rut, agreeing to a suicide pact in which they’ll shoot each other at the end of the day, so much of the movie is about the day leading up to that and the crime spree they end up going on over the course of that day as they no longer particularly care about the consequences of their actions and decide to seek some vengeance for some past grievances. I’m not someone who’s had a lot of suicide and depression in my life, I don’t think I’m the most qualified person to really judge if this movie handles the topic sensitively, but I don’t think it’s really going to ruffle as many feathers as it could have. Unfortunately that’s partly because the movie doesn’t really seem that interested in actually being funny, or maybe it was and the jokes just didn’t land but either way it didn’t really generate that feeling of uncomfortable laughter I was kind of hoping for. Honestly it’s kind of in line with how I usually feel about director and co-star Jerrod Carmichael: he seems like a smart guy who has some sort of comedy genius buried in his mind somewhere but his execution often feels forced and clumsy. Now, if you set aside the expectation that this thing is supposed to be a comedy you are left with a dark little story about two people causing mayhem across a day because of destructive mental issues, and in some ways I feel like that might have played better if the movie wasn’t trying so damn hard to be empathetic with these characters and maybe just viewed them as straightforwardly crappy people like early Tarantino characters or something. I don’t know, some ingredient is missing here. It’s not a total strikeout by any means but it’s not as bold and fascinating as I’d hoped.
**1/2 out of Five
On the Count of Three is a film that was marketed as an edgy dark comedy revolving around the very sensitive and complicated topics of depression and suicide, and it certainly is about those things but its maybe less of an actual comedy than the marketing might suggest. The film does begin with a pair of friends, one clinically depressed and the other going through a major rut, agreeing to a suicide pact in which they’ll shoot each other at the end of the day, so much of the movie is about the day leading up to that and the crime spree they end up going on over the course of that day as they no longer particularly care about the consequences of their actions and decide to seek some vengeance for some past grievances. I’m not someone who’s had a lot of suicide and depression in my life, I don’t think I’m the most qualified person to really judge if this movie handles the topic sensitively, but I don’t think it’s really going to ruffle as many feathers as it could have. Unfortunately that’s partly because the movie doesn’t really seem that interested in actually being funny, or maybe it was and the jokes just didn’t land but either way it didn’t really generate that feeling of uncomfortable laughter I was kind of hoping for. Honestly it’s kind of in line with how I usually feel about director and co-star Jerrod Carmichael: he seems like a smart guy who has some sort of comedy genius buried in his mind somewhere but his execution often feels forced and clumsy. Now, if you set aside the expectation that this thing is supposed to be a comedy you are left with a dark little story about two people causing mayhem across a day because of destructive mental issues, and in some ways I feel like that might have played better if the movie wasn’t trying so damn hard to be empathetic with these characters and maybe just viewed them as straightforwardly crappy people like early Tarantino characters or something. I don’t know, some ingredient is missing here. It’s not a total strikeout by any means but it’s not as bold and fascinating as I’d hoped.
**1/2 out of Five
