Wristcutters: A Love Story

This is one of "those" movies. You know the kind - like a catchy tune the vibe of this movie stays in your head... the movie had all the chances in the world to be depressing, but it was far from it, there are only a few drama elements and the title is not deceiving, it truly is a love story and a beautiful one at that and also threaded with great humor, when I laughed, I laughed hard. And I would probably cry if the ending was any different.

I won't go into possibilities and impossibilities of metaphysical, because that's absolutely not what this story is about; purgatory, if you will, is only the stage, where the romantic play is performed, with that, it's innovative though actually daring, as it was probably obvious the box office would never explode from what 'Wristcutters' would make. In my opinion, the movie is so well made it would have been great even if it was stripped of suicide thing and it was just a plain love story. Oh and Shannyn Sossamon was so convincing, I think I'm in love with her now. ;)

Bleak film of death and a depressing afterlife. Lots of nice little touches, like with the music - you only pick up on it after talking with people about it. From what I understand not completely faithful to the book, although I didn't read it. Good humor, oddly uplifting due to the romance.

Saw this at Sundance this year, was one of the 3 best we saw. Patrick Fugit was brilliant. Shannon was also strong. If you like dark films, you won't be disappointed. Can't comment on technical aspects of film, since i'm not in the industry.

Summary: Great cast, good writing. Fun times by all.

This is one of the best movies I've seen in a while! It's also one of the funniest movies I've seen recently.

The beginning definitely sets you up for the action to come and adds shock value. The first half hour or so was hilarious, filled with nice little humorous tidbits. Then it launches into the whole road trip scheme and focuses a lot more on the characters' emotional journey.

What's also neat for anyone who's spent a lot of time in Los Angeles and the valley is that you can recognize most of the scenery. This brings the plot into our world a little and makes it sort of familiar. The characters bring you along with them on their journey.

Patrick Fugit was fantastic in his role, as were all of the other actors. There were even a few surprise castings that had the audience roaring with laughter and cheering towards the end of the film.

This is truly a character-driven film of the type that you don't find much anymore. You won't regret any minute of it!

Sometimes we find beauty in the strangest places; and, remarkably for such a gruesome title, Wristcutters could probably be said to be a rather uplifting affirmation of life, hidden within a seriously quirky black comedy. Set in an afterlife reserved for people who commit suicide, it seems to contain wacky nuggets of truth from oddball characters including Zia, searching for the love of his life, Mikal, an accidental visitor, Eugene, a Russian musician that electrocuted himself on stage from being badly heckled, and the weird and wonderful Kneller, played by the ever-mysterious Tom Waits.

Zia slits his wrists and promptly wakes up in a world resembling this one, except that the colours are rather washed out and nobody smiles. He abandons his job at Kamikaze Pizza to search for his former love Desirée, and soon makes close friends with Mikal and Eugene, who accompany him on one of the strangest road trips since Dorothy lost her innocence in the Wizard of Oz.

What gives Wristcutters its edge, are the frequent, addictively interesting, and not immediately fathomable symbols that keep cropping up and nagging away like in any good movie that yearns for cult status: such as the black hole under the passenger seat where things just disappear. We just know that place - how many things have you lost there? Then there are people who are just far too weird to have been dreamt up on the back of a Hollywood paycheck: like the throat-singing mute, the dead-again messiah, or the policeman who still has a hole in his head.

There is a temptingly meaningful logic at work that will leave you fitting the pieces together long after the film has finished. Explaining how to perform minor miracles to the lovelorn Zia, Kneller tells him: "As long as you want it so bad, it's not going to happen - the only way it's gonna work is if it doesn't matter . . . " We soon start looking for clues to this rather crazy world and here Mikal (played by the much under-rated Shannyn Sossamon) looks like a good bet - but then so does anyone if you let your imagination run wild enough.

The religious orthodoxy behind the ultimate ideas of Wristcutters is a weakness, but it is put subtly and light-heartedly so will be inoffensive to most viewers.

If the stars in your sky have gone out for a while, maybe treat yourself to this zany and very well-produced story to set them on fire again. Wristcutters - a Love Story is at once touching, hilarious, thought-provoking and a hugely enjoyable ride.

An excellent film and well worth seeing: It defies pigeonholing into a genre; it's a romantic comedy, but not *at all* like the stereotypical romantic comedy, even if it does use some of the same conventions. It's a road movie, but not in the traditional sense. The dynamics and even the plot work and are believable, requiring less suspension of disbelief than I would've imagined. The music and cinematography work well into a story that is darkly/morbidly funny but also a bit sweet, without being saccharine. The acting is well done and the characters believable and quite well developed. This is definitely an art-house film, but one that it really decently pedestrian and accessible, rather than esoteric or exclusionary (that is, appealing to only art-house film lovers). The sound works well, and visual effects are only ever momentarily cheesy.