Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

i think sense of humor is just SUCH an individual thing. perhaps the more subtle the comedic approach, the more difficult to identify and align with. I myself found this film totally engaging, amusing and lovely. i did not know, at the time of viewing, that the director had made 3 or 4 other of my favorite films, On Our Own and Italian for Beginners being the most recent. The story itself is small but it's the screenplay and that quirky funny pervading sense of humor, that IS the film. two handsome, intelligent,gentle, interesting brothers have a deep love for each other. one is the older and responsible one, who runs the inherited family used book shop. the younger one makes a career out of trying to kill himself. a sweet sad woman- with- daughter comes into their lives and the shag rug becomes a tapestry. all the acting is spot-on. the TERRIFIC screenwriters (the director being one of the two)had me caring about all of the characters. the silences, as much as the dialogue, are perfectly carried off and i really didn't feel there was a false out-of-place moment in the entire film. i saw the film last night (thank heavens for good public-library film-buyers)and the characters are in my mind today.i've a delighted smile on my face. a big 10 for me.

This film played in a small art-house theater in Los Angeles for several weeks with little or no promotion. I'd never heard of it and wondered why it continued playing for so long. I did not go to see it then but remembered the odd title. I subsequently came across the DVD and purchased it out of curiosity. I was amply rewarded for my adventure. The film, a Danish-Scottish co-production, is a small treasure. It is funny and poignant. The acting is uniformly fine and the characters are well defined and developed. The score is excellent and is performed by the Philharmonic of London. I share the DVD with friends and family and recommend the film highly. It's a wonderful little film.

"Wilbur" is a pretty hard movie to describe. It has many redeeming qualities, but in the end, I just didn't like it and wished I hadn't seen it.

It's another quirky comedy/drama, and it fits well into that category. I thought the writing was very good, and the comedy made me laugh out loud several times. However, the movie tries to get you to connect with the characters, and for me, it was impossible to do that. Although they're all likable people, the only one who really got to me was Wilbur's brother. If you have seen or will see the film, I'm sure you'll know why.

I wanted to like this movie, and I still just couldn't. It's very funny at times, and sometimes touching, but I left the theater being more angry and repulsed than relieved and entertained.

It's close, but unfortunately, no cigar.

5/10

Interesting film, but this viewer was far less impressed than the Scandinavian reviewers. Performances were great overall, though some deliveries of the clumsiest lines clunked (and Henderson's babydoll voice really irritates) Some great scenes, but the black comedy is uneven (lost in translation?)/ script patchy. All that bloody backstory for Wilbur-- was Harbour meant to be justifying the selfishness of his brother or.... what? Scherfig does a wonderful job in finding the humanity of difficult, odd characters (in 'Italian for beginners' too) Wish she'd cut the stuff that didn't work because it tries to hard to be odd. And more Mikkelsen please... what he evokes in the twitch of an eyebrow-- much more impressive than all that talk. Interesting but flawed... a director to watch, however.

If you can get hold of this film it is well worth a look. Set in Scotland and telling the tale of a suicidal man whose life changes when he falls in love with single mother Shirley Henderson, it is both witty and sad in just the right measure. The love interest between the two leading characters is not straight forward and it is upon this dilemma that the film's plot revolves. Carefully directed, it never crosses the line into outright sentimentality although it does come dangerously close. Shirley Henderson is wonderful, as usual, but there are also strong performances from Jamie Sives and Adrian Rawlins. It is a low-key movie but a touching one that proves movies don't have to be violent, fast moving or steamy to entertain. Particularly suitable for lovers of kitchen sink romance.