I enjoy my comedy black, blacker than space if I can get it. You can imagine my excitement when I learned of “Wristcutters: A Love Story” (a romantic comedy involving suicide victims in the afterlife).
I think we all can agree that suicide is hilarious and is a breath of fresh air to the buzzkill genre known as the Romantic Comedy. Sadly the film is already getting flack for its ad campaign before it has even begun. We find the story at Yahoo.
The images will depict people jumping off a bridge, electrocuting and hanging themselves. The acclaimed film follows a group of people that have committed suicide (including stars Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon) as they take a road trip through purgatory.
“You don’t see people making fun of other causes of death, but you see it with suicide and mental illness,” Robert Gebbia, executive director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), wrote in a letter to the film’s backers.
When people try to dictate what we can and cannot make jokes about I tend to get my fir up a little. First off, ALL forms of death under the sun have been made fun of (Kenny from South Park alone has probably covered most of them). Second, the co – owner of After Dark Films claims that the signs are modeled after stop and yield signs with lines though the suicide picture (ala ghostbusters) and will have hearts on the poster indicating the hilarious contrast of love and suicide. Third, shouldn’t the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention be spending their time on the real enemies – Superbowl Sunday and Christmas? I think so.
I will be following this ongoing story closely for all my international friends. Needless to say I am pumped to see this film (Aug 31st release) and anxiously look forward to reviewing it – unless of course, I kill myself.
