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MOVIES / ON DVD / WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF
Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

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Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2004)

87%
100%
69%
N/A
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87 %
Reviews Counted: 76 Fresh: 66  Rotten:10 Average Rating: 7.1/10
 
Consensus: Despite its morbid subject matter, Wilbur is a charming and often funny film. Despite its morbid subject matter, Wilbur is a charming and often funny film. more
 
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Synopsis:
The chronically suicidal Wilbur (JAMIE SIVES – 'Glasgow Kiss') and his good-hearted big brother Harbour (ADRIAN RAWLINS - Breaking The Waves) are in their thirties, when their father dies, leaving them with nothing but a worn down second-hand bookshop in Glasgow. Wilbur survives yet... [More]
The chronically suicidal Wilbur (JAMIE SIVES – 'Glasgow Kiss') and his good-hearted big brother Harbour (ADRIAN RAWLINS - Breaking The Waves) are in their thirties, when their father dies, leaving them with nothing but a worn down second-hand bookshop in Glasgow. Wilbur survives yet another suicide attempt and goes to hospital, where he meets Horst (MADS MIKKELSEN - Open Hearts), a cynical psychologist and his empathic head nurse, Moira (JULIA DAVIS – 'Big Train'). Like Harbour, they believe that Wilbur needs a girlfriend. But even though women fall for Wilbur all the time, they can't get close to him. In fact, it is Harbour who falls in love when a shy and intense woman, Alice (SHIRLEY HENDERSON - 24 Hour Party People, Bridget Jones's Diary), enters the lives of the brothers. Alice lives a life in isolation with her little daughter, Mary. She supplements her job as a cleaning lady at the hospital's surgical ward, selling books that the patients have left behind. Little by little, Wilbur, Harbour and Alice become inseparable. Wilbur starts regaining his lust for life, Alice starts to come out of her shell, and Mary starts reading the thousands of books in the second-hand bookshop. Harbour has never been happier, but he carries a deep secret, that threatens to surface. -- Icon Film Distribution Pty Ltd [Less]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Jamie Sives, Adrian Rawlins, Shirley Henderson, Julia Davis, Mads Mikkelsen

Director: Lone Scherfig
Screenwriter: Anders Thomas Jensen, Lone Scherfig
Producer: Sisse Graum Olsen

DVD Info

Release:

Feb 8, 2005

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region (unknown)
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review | Comment
12/30/06 07:24 AM
Empire Magazine
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N/R

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Full Review | Comment
01/26/06 03:16 AM
Time Out
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N/R

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Full Review | Comment
01/15/04 05:11 PM
Guardian [UK]
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This quirky little movie's more charming than morbid, more funny than sad.

Full Review | Comment
12/05/03 08:14 AM
Jamie Russell
BBC
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Full Review | Comment
11/26/03 05:10 PM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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Don't let the title put you off; this is one of the most wonderfully life-affirming films you'll see all year.

Full Review | Comment
08/10/03 08:09 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
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...the kind of picture one is more inclined to admire than embrace

Full Review | Comment
01/29/05 09:33 AM
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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Lone Scherfig has masterfully combined rather dark, serious topics with a little humor and a lot of humanity.

Full Review | Comment
01/24/05 07:38 AM
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
N/R

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Full Review | Comment
11/11/04 10:15 PM
Daniel Mudie Cunningham
PopMatters
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Scherfig presents the message with a creative flair that will appeal to indie film lovers who appreciate well drawn characters

Full Review | Comment
08/29/04 10:16 PM
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
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Feels schematic, contrived and less genuine.

Full Review | Comment
08/06/04 02:43 PM
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Wilbur is less about adherence to cinematic restrictions than it is about characters, and Scherfig was able to coax subtle, comic performances from her actors.

Full Review | Comment
06/04/04 11:43 AM
Matt Kelemen
Las Vegas CityLife
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Although at times too low-key, Wilbur is a humorous and strangely uplifting film about death and dying.

Full Review | Comment
06/03/04 02:40 PM
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly
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More plainly dreary than morosely captivating... a movie that seems rather irresolute about exactly what sort of feelings it’s hypothetically meant to be conjuring up.

Full Review | Comment
05/31/04 05:43 PM
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today
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It's certain parts of the film that I enjoy rather than the film as a whole.

Full Review | Comment
05/27/04 11:16 PM
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com
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You may laugh, but you won't always like yourself for it.

Full Review | Comment
05/21/04 03:00 PM
Orlando Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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Pretty enjoyable.

Full Review | Comment
05/21/04 02:58 PM
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
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Amid the bloody pulp that is cinema this season, the director of Italian for Beginners offers a fresh look at the old death wish.

Full Review | Comment
05/17/04 12:20 PM
David N. Butterworth
Movie Boeuf
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You can almost believe that Sives and Rawlins are brothers, while the oft-used Henderson ... is solid, as usual.

Full Review | Comment
05/14/04 07:13 PM
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
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These fragile, self-destructive people, practically in spite of themselves, manage to charm their way into our hearts.

Full Review | Comment
05/14/04 07:07 PM
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Related Forums

REEL_REVIEWER
WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF - low-key Scottish black comedy(4 lovers of irony only?)
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/15/05


REEL_REVIEWER
WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF - low-key Scottish black comedy(4 lovers of irony only?)
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/15/05


REEL_REVIEWER
WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF - low-key Scottish black comedy(4 lovers of irony only?)
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/15/05


REEL_REVIEWER
WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF - low-key Scottish black comedy(4 lovers of irony only?)
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/15/05
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