The Darwin Awards
A Comedy... To Die For
Based on four best-selling non-fiction books of over 700 Darwin Award cases, The Darwin Awards takes a darkly comic view at the people who risk their lives pursuing a crazy idea, only to end up improving the human race by removing themselves from the gene pool and thus earning a "Darwin" award. Winona Ryder stars as an insurance claims investigator, along with Joseph Fiennes as a forensic detective, who team up to investigate potential Darwin Award winners.
Member Reviews
Fun but unchallenging - greenfatigue
Not one of the great intellectual movies of our time. This movie follows the progess of an ex-policeman who is obsessed with people who kill themselves in stupid ways.
Various random and improbable events occur as they journey across the USA investigating mysterious insurance claims. This culminates in a bizarre climax where the characters nearly kill themselves in an improbable way to catch a serial killer.
The overall plot is pretty unbelievable and fairly silly, but the individual stories they uncover are quite fun, and the movie is worth watching if only for the cameo from Mythbusters Adam and Jamie.Awesome, way better than expected - Bonni's_Pics
Laughed so hard in places, did not expect much from this movie yet it instantly became one we would purchase to add to our library. I beleive it was done in good taste, as unbeleivable as that sounds! How to deal with death in a manner that is not insulting and not demeaning when the subject is Darwin Awards for goodness sakes! I am not going to give it away except to say I was not disapointed. I think the acting was supperb, loved all of the cameo performances of 'big' name actors and actress'. The script was hysterical and original.Offbeat, Original - And Winona's Still Hot. - JasonTHX
"The Darwin Awards" got a bit of press a year and a half ago as it premiered at Sundance the night one of it's actors Chris Penn died. After that it didn't recieve much press - or even a theatrical release. You know what? It's a pretty good movie. It's pretty much in the same spirit of movies David O Russell was making 10 years ago with stuff like "Flirting With Disaster". If you enjoy those types of vibes in movies this one's right for you.
"The Darwin Awards" is a story of a former detective (Joseph Feinnes) who's asked to investigate a spat of bizarre deaths that have been happening recently and determine the cause of them. He's partnered with an Insurance claims officer (Winona Ryder) who's your typical by the book type who's interested in the bottom line.
The movie takes some surprising and amusing turns as it highlights each character's death scenario which is a real treat if you're tired of the predictable. Well it does veer into some of the predicable - you know that Fiennes and Ryder are gonna wind up togeher - that's a given but the rest of the movie sneaks up on you with it's charm.
Ryder is a favorite of mine for many years and here she is brassy and alive and it's the best she's been in years. How great can Ryder be? Remember her few minutes in "Simone" in which she played a bitchy, spoiled hollywood brat?
Remember the spark she bought to that flat movie? It's good to see Ryder back. (Yes, I'm a fan!)
This film also has a pretty darn cool supporting cast as well and they all seem to be having a ball. Even metal band Mettalica shows up at the end and has an amusing scene or two. Any movie that ends with a Metallica laugh has to be doing something right.
"The Darwin Awards" is one of those movies you never heard of, but wind up falling for. If you're into Russels or Wes Anderson movies "The Darwin Awards" might be what you need in an overstuffed moviegoing summer.
Member Reviews
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Fun but unchallenging - greenfatigue
Not one of the great intellectual movies of our time. This movie follows the progess of an ex-policeman who is obsessed with people who kill themselves in stupid ways.
Various random and improbable events occur as they journey across the USA investigating ...Awesome, way better than expected - Bonni's_Pics
Laughed so hard in places, did not expect much from this movie yet it instantly became one we would purchase to add to our library. I beleive it was done in good taste, as unbeleivable as that sounds! How to deal with death in a manner that is not insulting ...Offbeat, Original - And Winona's Still Hot. - JasonTHX
"The Darwin Awards" got a bit of press a year and a half ago as it premiered at Sundance the night one of it's actors Chris Penn died. After that it didn't recieve much press - or even a theatrical release. You know what? It's a pretty good movie. It's pretty ...