WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF -- Lone Scherfig, dir

©2002
studio: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
production company: Zentropa Entertainments, Wilbur Ltd., Scottish Screen, Sigma Films Ltd., TV2 Danmark, Glasgow Film Office, Sveriges Television (SVT), Palisades Pictures Entertainment Group
director: Lone Scherfig
screenplay: Lone Scherfig & Anders Thomas Jensen
cast: Jamie Sives, Adrian Rawlins, Shirley Henderson, Lisa McKinlay, Mads Mikkelsen, Julia Davis, Susan Vidler, Robert McIntosh, Lorraine McIntosh

Two brothers, one suicidal, meet a single mother and her daughter, and their lives become intertwined in remarkable ways.

I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. I laughed out loud; I nodded in appreciation for the way some things were done; and yet when the movie was over I felt completely ... nothing.

The acting was all quite good (some of the smaller roles were incredibly fun to watch [Mads Mikkelsen in particular]), and the directing showed some great skill, but the screenplay took more than a couple of bizarre leaps in the storyline and perhaps tried just a little too hard to give all the leads equal time and by doing so, none of the storylines were clear enough to follow.

Perhaps it's a "chick" thing, but I never understood the attraction that the women had for Wilbur. Why was he so irresistable that women were throwing themselves at him? And what was it about Alice that he fell for her when none of the other women could get his attention?

Too many things happened with no explanation as to why or how, which made the relationships not seem real to me. Without the relationships being real, the story didn't have any impact.

I may actually watch this again to see if I can figure out what I'm missing because, as I said, I wanted to like this film.