The Darwin Awards (2006)

Calificación de los usuarios:

5.9/10   

Director:

Finn Taylor

Guionista (WGA):

Finn Taylor (written by)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

5 julio 2006 (United Arab Emirates)

Género:

Aventura | Comedia | Romance

Plot:

A forensic detective (Fiennes) and an insurance claims investigator (Ryder) trek to investigate a potential Darwin Award winner. From www.darwinawards.com: "The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally kill themselves in really stupid ways." |

Plot Keywords:

Claims Investigator | Narration | Film Within A Film | Recreational Vehicle | Rooftop

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Comedy Not Fit to Survive

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 6	1:30 PM	SHOW
Fri. July 10	5:45 PM	SHOW
Wed. July 15	12:00 PM	SHOW

Reparto

David Arquette	...	Harvey
Ty Burrell	...	Emile
Josh Charles	...	Paramedic
Kevin Dunn	...	Insurance Exec
Nora Dunn	...	Mrs. Pearlman
Joseph Fiennes	...	Michael Burrows
Judah Friedlander	...	Simon
Lukas Haas	...	Farley
Tom Hollander	...	Henry
Brad Hunt	...	Stan
Juliette Lewis	...	Joleen
Julianna Margulies	...	Carla
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Perp
Alessandro Nivola	...	Ad Exec
Chris Penn	...	Tom

MPAA:

Rated R for language, violent images, some sexuality and drug use.

Duración:

USA:94 min (DVD version)

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color

Relación de Aspecto:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

USA:R | Malaysia:(Banned) | Finland:K-15 | South Korea:18 | Australia:M | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:M | Australia:MA (TV rating)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Adelanto, California, USA

Compañía:

3 Ring Circus Films

Trivialidades:

The title is based on a real set of awards given to people who inadvertently "help" natural selection by acts of sheer stupidity that result in their removal from the gene pool, either by their death or any other act that makes them incapable of reproducing.

Errores:

Continuidad: When Burrows and Siri are driving in the car, before they hit the metal grate, the documentary filmmaker is not in the car. Also, there is no other vehicle shown. However, after the accident, the documentary filmmaker is with them again.

Conexiones de Película:

References "Cops" (1989)

Banda de Sonido:

Vienna

Comedy Not Fit to Survive

This was a movie I was really looking forward to at Sundance. We're all familiar with the Darwin Awards, a website started by Stanford molecular biologist Wendy Northcutt to humorously recognize extremely stupid acts that lead to self-inflicted, accidental death. Northcutt's notion is that the human gene pool improves when these tragi-comic figures, who are presumably plagued by genetic stupidity, are removed from the population. Hence the Darwin Awards (www.darwinawards.com).

It sounds like a terrific premise for an outrageous comedy and like the rest of the audience I was licking my chops. Unfortunately, this movie was about as funny as Origin of the Species. Director Finn Taylor has made a couple of refreshingly oddball films (Dreams with the Fishes, Cherish) but The Darwin Awards fails on almost every level.

The concept was probably doomed from the outset by the decision to incorporate a bunch of award-winning events into a linear storyline, including madcap crime investigations and a little love interest. Casting Joseph Fiennes and Wynona Ryder as the leads was the second mistake, as neither of them was right for their parts (and despite their efforts, came off very flat). Follow that with writing that is simply not very clever and you have a disappointing movie.

The vignettes do include some great casting choices, including Chris Penn, Tim Blake Nelson, David Arquette and Metallica. But unfortunately, they are lost in the woeful script, and give us only the occasional funny moment.

As many have heard, actor Chris Penn was found dead at his Santa Monica home the day of the Sundance premiere. Finn Taylor had some nice words to say about Chris prior to the screening. And afterwards Winona Ryder, who had known Chris for 15 years, spoke at length about him. "He wasn't just Sean's younger brother," she said. It was a genuinely nice tribute.