So we start with the "hilarious" premise that the obnoxious smartarse Wilbur (he doesn't really get any better) is continually trying to kill himself. All too quickly we have to divorce ourselves from any semblance of reality. Why has Wilbur not been sectioned? Why does he have a brother called Harbour? (it clicked when I saw that nearly every name related to the production was Danish that it might have been laziness on the writer's part). Without spoiling the plot takes a dramatic turn which should have touched me but is just not handled well enough for me to care.
I have no axe to grind with the actors: Shirley Henderson and Adrian Rawlins manage to evince some empathy although Rawlins clearly struggles with the Glaswegian accent. Jamie Sives plays the very unsympathetic title character unsympathetically (incredible for a character who is supposed to be suicidal!). Julia Davis gives us a 2D purely comic tactless nurse that would work well in a sketch show but no a film of this nature.
The reassuring thing about a film like this is that it reminds me how good most of the films I see are.
I have no axe to grind with the actors: Shirley Henderson and Adrian Rawlins manage to evince some empathy although Rawlins clearly struggles with the Glaswegian accent. Jamie Sives plays the very unsympathetic title character unsympathetically (incredible for a character who is supposed to be suicidal!). Julia Davis gives us a 2D purely comic tactless nurse that would work well in a sketch show but no a film of this nature.
The reassuring thing about a film like this is that it reminds me how good most of the films I see are.