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Wristcutters: A Love Story

  • 2006
  • R
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
59K
YOUR RATING
Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
Wristcutters - Trailer
Play trailer2:33
1 Video
99+ Photos
Dark ComedyPsychological DramaRomantic ComedyComedyDramaFantasyRomance

A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide.A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide.A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide.

  • Director
    • Goran Dukic
  • Writers
    • Goran Dukic
    • Etgar Keret
  • Stars
    • Patrick Fugit
    • Shea Whigham
    • Tom Waits
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    59K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Goran Dukic
    • Writers
      • Goran Dukic
      • Etgar Keret
    • Stars
      • Patrick Fugit
      • Shea Whigham
      • Tom Waits
    • 115User reviews
    • 41Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 9 wins & 6 nominations total

    Videos1

    Wristcutters
    Trailer 2:33
    Wristcutters

    Photos161

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 157
    View Poster

    Top Cast65

    Edit
    Patrick Fugit
    Patrick Fugit
    • Zia
    Shea Whigham
    Shea Whigham
    • Eugene
    Tom Waits
    Tom Waits
    • Kneller
    Will Arnett
    Will Arnett
    • Messiah
    Abraham Benrubi
    Abraham Benrubi
    • Erik
    Leslie Bibb
    Leslie Bibb
    • Desiree
    Mark Boone Junior
    Mark Boone Junior
    • Mike
    • (as Mark Boone Jr.)
    Cameron Bowen
    Cameron Bowen
    • Kostya
    Clayne Crawford
    Clayne Crawford
    • Jim
    Chase Ellison
    Chase Ellison
    • Kid Kostya
    Adam Gifford
    Adam Gifford
    • Gas Station Attendant
    • (as Adam G.)
    Mary Pat Gleason
    Mary Pat Gleason
    • Eugene's Mother
    John Hawkes
    John Hawkes
    • Yan
    Mikal P. Lazarev
    Mikal P. Lazarev
    • Nanuk
    Aaron Parker Mouser
    Aaron Parker Mouser
    • Max
    • (as Aaron Mouser)
    Nick Offerman
    Nick Offerman
    • Cop
    Anatol Rezmeritza
    • Eugene's Father
    Sarah Roemer
    Sarah Roemer
    • Rachel
    • Director
      • Goran Dukic
    • Writers
      • Goran Dukic
      • Etgar Keret
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews115

    7.259.3K
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    Featured reviews

    9mskatherinespiller

    fish and whale

    this is a must see picture. if you enjoyed Garden State then you will most definitely enjoy this. A movie that deals with life, and the appreciation of it all, even from a dead perspective in a creative way. a must see for Tom Waits Fans and recommended to anyone who's a sucker for a love story. The movie deals with what's at the core of a person. Cinematography that let's a viewer sink into the story, and laugh at what most would refer to as a "dark" or "sad" topic. With all that's going on in the world, it's about time that we start to realize that life is what we have, it's something valuable, that we have the choice to live, and can start living it any day. When Mikal says, "most of my friends were already half dead or dead anyways.", it does make you think and the movie pushes the idea it's never to late to start your life. The actors are all well picked for this movie, it seems as though they all move with ease together. You will leave the theater feeling not so much better about life, but with a smile on your face. You'll feel not a huge sigh of a relief, but a sigh of delight. Something about the movie made me remember time and time again that the purpose is to enjoy what you have, and to love without regret. It's a movie that makes you appreciate life from a new angle.
    10Babybug3

    Roadtrip meets black comedy meets love story

    This is one of the best movies I've seen in a while! It's also one of the funniest movies I've seen recently.

    The beginning definitely sets you up for the action to come and adds shock value. The first half hour or so was hilarious, filled with nice little humorous tidbits. Then it launches into the whole road trip scheme and focuses a lot more on the characters' emotional journey.

    What's also neat for anyone who's spent a lot of time in Los Angeles and the valley is that you can recognize most of the scenery. This brings the plot into our world a little and makes it sort of familiar. The characters bring you along with them on their journey.

    Patrick Fugit was fantastic in his role, as were all of the other actors. There were even a few surprise castings that had the audience roaring with laughter and cheering towards the end of the film.

    This is truly a character-driven film of the type that you don't find much anymore. You won't regret any minute of it!
    8Chris_Docker

    A wild, wacky, enjoyable ride - you won't slit your throat in the middle of it

    Sometimes we find beauty in the strangest places; and, remarkably for such a gruesome title, Wristcutters could probably be said to be a rather uplifting affirmation of life, hidden within a seriously quirky black comedy. Set in an afterlife reserved for people who commit suicide, it seems to contain wacky nuggets of truth from oddball characters including Zia, searching for the love of his life, Mikal, an accidental visitor, Eugene, a Russian musician that electrocuted himself on stage from being badly heckled, and the weird and wonderful Kneller, played by the ever-mysterious Tom Waits.

    Zia slits his wrists and promptly wakes up in a world resembling this one, except that the colours are rather washed out and nobody smiles. He abandons his job at Kamikaze Pizza to search for his former love Desirée, and soon makes close friends with Mikal and Eugene, who accompany him on one of the strangest road trips since Dorothy lost her innocence in the Wizard of Oz.

    What gives Wristcutters its edge, are the frequent, addictively interesting, and not immediately fathomable symbols that keep cropping up and nagging away like in any good movie that yearns for cult status: such as the black hole under the passenger seat where things just disappear. We just know that place - how many things have you lost there? Then there are people who are just far too weird to have been dreamt up on the back of a Hollywood paycheck: like the throat-singing mute, the dead-again messiah, or the policeman who still has a hole in his head.

    There is a temptingly meaningful logic at work that will leave you fitting the pieces together long after the film has finished. Explaining how to perform minor miracles to the lovelorn Zia, Kneller tells him: "As long as you want it so bad, it's not going to happen - the only way it's gonna work is if it doesn't matter . . . " We soon start looking for clues to this rather crazy world and here Mikal (played by the much under-rated Shannyn Sossamon) looks like a good bet - but then so does anyone if you let your imagination run wild enough.

    The religious orthodoxy behind the ultimate ideas of Wristcutters is a weakness, but it is put subtly and light-heartedly so will be inoffensive to most viewers.

    If the stars in your sky have gone out for a while, maybe treat yourself to this zany and very well-produced story to set them on fire again. Wristcutters - a Love Story is at once touching, hilarious, thought-provoking and a hugely enjoyable ride.
    9zaphodchak

    An excellent film

    An excellent film and well worth seeing: It defies pigeonholing into a genre; it's a romantic comedy, but not *at all* like the stereotypical romantic comedy, even if it does use some of the same conventions. It's a road movie, but not in the traditional sense. The dynamics and even the plot work and are believable, requiring less suspension of disbelief than I would've imagined. The music and cinematography work well into a story that is darkly/morbidly funny but also a bit sweet, without being saccharine. The acting is well done and the characters believable and quite well developed. This is definitely an art-house film, but one that it really decently pedestrian and accessible, rather than esoteric or exclusionary (that is, appealing to only art-house film lovers). The sound works well, and visual effects are only ever momentarily cheesy.
    10placebotonic

    Captivating

    This is one of "those" movies. You know the kind - like a catchy tune the vibe of this movie stays in your head... the movie had all the chances in the world to be depressing, but it was far from it, there are only a few drama elements and the title is not deceiving, it truly is a love story and a beautiful one at that and also threaded with great humor, when I laughed, I laughed hard. And I would probably cry if the ending was any different.

    I won't go into possibilities and impossibilities of metaphysical, because that's absolutely not what this story is about; purgatory, if you will, is only the stage, where the romantic play is performed, with that, it's innovative though actually daring, as it was probably obvious the box office would never explode from what 'Wristcutters' would make. In my opinion, the movie is so well made it would have been great even if it was stripped of suicide thing and it was just a plain love story. Oh and Shannyn Sossamon was so convincing, I think I'm in love with her now. ;)

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    Related interests

    Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Sian Clifford in Fleabag (2016)
    Dark Comedy
    Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
    Psychological Drama
    Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
    Romantic Comedy
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáe, André Holland, Herman Caheej McGloun, Edson Jean, Alex R. Hibbert, and Tanisha Cidel in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    Fantasy
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Shea Whigham's character (Eugene) is partly based on Gur Bentwich, Israeli writer/director and friend of Etgar Keret who wrote "Kneller's Happy Campers". He is also partly based on Eugene Hutz, front-man of Gogol Bordello and friend of director Goran Dukic.
    • Goofs
      Pouring a beer on electric guitar strings, even with the amp turned on, would be very unlikely to cause electrocution. There is no high voltage current on the guitar itself; about the only way to get electrocuted on stage is through faulty grounding in the sound system and stage set-up, and that would kill you, beer or no beer!
    • Quotes

      Kneller: Once upon a time there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. And they grew next to each other. And every day the straight tree would look at the crooked tree and he would say, "You're crooked. You've always been crooked and you'll continue to be crooked. But look at me! Look at me!" said the straight tree. He said, "I'm tall and I'm straight." And then one day the lumberjacks came into the forest and looked around, and the manager in charge said, "Cut all the straight trees." And that crooked tree is still there to this day, growing strong and growing strange.

    • Crazy credits
      The first credit, for distributor Autonomous Films, has a syllabification breakdown and a definition.
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Bee Movie/Wristcutters: A Love Story/No Country for Old Men/Martian Child/Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains (2007)
    • Soundtracks
      Dead and Lovely
      Written by Kathleen Brennan and Tom Waits

      Performed by Tom Waits

      Courtesy of Anti

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 2, 2007 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
    • Languages
      • English
      • Russian
    • Also known as
      • Pizzeria Kamikaze
    • Filming locations
      • Palmdale, California, USA(Goran Dukic)
    • Production companies
      • No Matter Pictures
      • Crispy Films
      • Adam Sherman
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $1,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $446,165
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $42,808
      • Oct 21, 2007
    • Gross worldwide
      • $454,026
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 28m(88 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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