Wristcutters: A Love Story (2007): C+

Reeling from a break-up with girlfriend Desiree (Leslie Bibb), bereft Zia (Patrick Fugit) does himself in at the outset of Wristcutters: A Love Story. Rather than eternal peace, however, suicide merely lands the twenty-something in an afterlife that resembles a more mundane, dreary version of our own world. Based on Etgar Keret’s short story, Goran Dukic’s film has something of a promising premise, and for a time, it also has an eccentric whimsicality that stems from its characters’ wryly resigned attitudes toward their worse-than-purgatory fates. Once Zia learns that Desiree may also be in this netherworld, he sets out – along with wacko Eugene (Shea Whigham) and obvious-true-love Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon) – on a road trip to find her. However, aside from the inspired notion of a black hole existing underneath the front seat of the trio’s car, it’s here that the tale begins to sputter. Will Arnet’s religious cult leader proves a wasted opportunity, and Tom Waits’ Kneller does little more than exude ragamuffin Waits-ian charm. Fugit, though, ably keeps this superficially controversial, and yet actually rather conventional, film from devolving into obnoxious oddness, thanks to his ability to convey a surprising range of emotions even though Zia, like all of the suicide-dead, isn’t allowed to smile.