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Wristcutters: A Love Story
Autonomous Films


7.4

based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for language and disturbing content involving suicide

Starring Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon, Shea Whigham, Tom Waits, Will Arnett, Leslie Bibb, Sarah Roemer, and Abraham Benrubi

From the moment Zia (in his late 20s) cuts his wrists and enters a bizarre afterlife reserved for suicides, this film becomes a strangely uplifting, comic tale about a journey through the hereafter. It is a world where everyone still bears the scars earned from the manner in which they "offed," and the everyday reality is a twisted mirror image of our own mortal world. (Halcyon Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Fantasy \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Etgar Keret (short story Kneller's Happy Campers) Goran Dukic
DIRECTED BY:	Goran Dukic
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 25, 2008 Theatrical: October 19, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	91 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Wristcutters: A Love Story is a lousy title for a lovely-loony picture about an afterlife for suicides. It's an off-road "road movie" about people who off themselves.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

For a film about suicide, Wristcutters is agreeably loopy and game. Dukic is bitterly funny rather than maudlin, and his carefully plotted grunge chic, in addition to being cheap, lends the film a great deal of Jim Jarmusch grime to go with its unmistakable Jim Jarmusch quirk.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The whole film is cracked, but in a stylish, downtown way.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Gianni Truzzi

This delightful piece of whimsy uses its simple premise effectively to gain and keep our attention and to remind us simply that, while this world appears ordinary, it is still unbounded by reality.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Has an offbeat, absurdist charm that turns a potentially creepy conceit into an odd, touching adventure.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The result is wholly original, sort of like "The Wizard of Oz" as filtered through the sensibilities of Emir Kusturica, the cult filmmaker and musician.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

For a film about suicides, Wristcutters: A Love Story is strangely life-affirming. This film about slackers stuck in limbo between life and death is upbeat in an offbeat way.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Turns out to be a sweetly grim lark: a road film through Limbo. It takes the self-pity associated with ending one's life and uses it for the purposes of mordantly aware comic fantasy.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

A quirky but surprisingly lighthearted dark comedy.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Simultaneously dark and sweet, always a difficult combination to pull off. It views its characters with both archness and affection, and even as it lovingly recalls films of another era it insists that the painful awkwardness of youth is perennial.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The film has a spry quality, but the jokes are neither funny nor dark enough, the quirky roadside episodes aren't sufficiently outlandish or imaginative, the romantic sparks don't convince and the plotting becomes increasingly silly and tedious. Dukic conjures an air of play and naughtiness, but that's about as deep as he cuts.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie isn't laugh out loud funny, under the circumstances, but it is bittersweet and wistfully amusing; the actors enjoy lachrymosity. We witness the birth of a new genre, the Post-Slasher Movie.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It is neither as clever nor as funny nor as inventive as the daring title might lead one to expect.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

Quite a bit darker than most mainstream romantic comedies. As you might not expect, it’s also quite a bit more inventive and far wittier than most mainstream romantic comedies.

Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart

It's borderline parody of a kind of fey filmmaking popular at crunchy-granola festivals, but the counterfeit aesthetic is ultimately outshone by the life-affirming message.

Film Threat Eric Campos

Imagine a blend of "The Wizard of Oz," "Beetlejuice" and "Roadside Prophets" and you'll know exactly what Wristcutters is like.

Variety Justin Chang

Though its absurdist inventions occasionally border on twee, this affectionate slow-blooming romance mines an understated vein of comic melancholy that the actors' wistful performances perfectly capture.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A well-wrought indie written and directed by Goran Dukic, has to be the kewpie doll of current zombie flicks: Its walking dead are a bunch of attractive slackers whose wounds are largely internal. They've got attitude.

Empire Staff (Not credited)

Despite being occasionally hilarious, director Goran Dukic should have toned down the wackiness.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Somewhat original and amusing. But only somewhat.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Seems to me, teenage suicide isn't that funny, and nothing in this movie changed my mind.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Like some laid-back distant cousin of Tim Burton, writer-director Goran Dukic manages to balance the ghoulishness with whimsy and melancholy, at least for a while. But the strain is obvious in the story's last third, as the filmmaker struggles toward a resolution that fits the logic of the hero's netherworld.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

But absurdity alone won’t get the train into the depot, and no amount of quirky characters floating in their chairs or fish changing colors at random can make up for the film’s lack of real humor or meaning. Which is to say, if you’re going to make a comedy about suicide, you’d better make sure the jokes land. There are people out there who could use a laugh.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

It's described as a black comedy, but you can forget the comedy part. There wasn't so much as a snicker at the screening I attended, though I may have heard a snore or two.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nalin X gave it an8:
This is a wonderfully pleasant movie about a generally unpleasant subject. The "love story" bit is nothing special. The special thing about this movie - is how the light-humour on an otherwise dark subject - makes for good story-telling. And like most good movies of our times, this one has suffiecient fantastic elements. Watch out for the hole in the car... I like it.

Chris K. gave it an8:
Something different from the same rehashed movies that keep coming out. An interesting look at life, death, and love. The love story the develops wasn't even half bad!

Chad S. gave it an8:
A crappy title can hamper a film's chances for success. "Wristcutters: A Love Story" is a crappy title. That's the name of the backstory. "Road to Nowhere" would be more befitting. Cue David Byrne. Where Zia(Patrick Fugit) ends up isn't purgatory. The portable black hole in Eugene's car rules out that Christian notion. This diegesis is godless. Zia and Eugene(Shea Wingham) help their travelling companion Mikahl(Shannyn Sossamon) find the "people in charge", not Charles in charge, or God in charge. There's a messiah(Will Arnett), however, a cult leader with a God complex, whose followers can't take a hint. And then there's Kneller(Tom Waits), one of the people in charge. His control over life and death makes him god-like, but the miracles he perform are secular-based. If there's no hell, there can't be a heaven either, according to "Wristcutters: A Love Story", the ineptly named, but intriguing road movie that blasphemes the written word with great subtlety and wit.

Brandon J gave it a9:
One of my favorite films of last year. Fugit is really starting to come into his own, as is Sossamon. Good acting + great premise = above average dark romcom.

Jay H. gave it a6:
Certainly off beat, as well as creative. Fascinating as well as frustrating at times, the cast is terrific. Very watchable and you have to admire the fact that the filmmakers are trying something different, even if it doesn't always work.

Jason L. gave it a10:
There have been some great movies lurking around lately. This is one of them. A guy searches a strange land for his dead girlfriend. This is a touching, funny and bizarre road trip movie with a fantastic soundtrack. I watched this and realised that not every movie from America is bad, just most.

Lauren H. gave it a10:
a delightful movie that was surprisingly funny and incredibly original, one of the best of the year

Wristcutters: A Love Story Autonomous Films

Wristcutters: A Love Story
Autonomous Films