Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Pretty Good

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Michael (Joseph Fiennes) has always been drawn to solving mysteries, since he was a boy. When he reaches adulthood, he becomes a criminal profiler for the San Fran police. He's good. Unfortunately, when he spies blood, our Mike faints straight away. Thus, when he does this at a wrong moment, allowing a perp to get away, he is let go. What other profession would be a good fit for his skills? Why, its insurance investigation. At first, a company leader (Kevin Dunn) tells Michael that there are no openings at present. But, after Mikey reveals all the man's secrets back to him, just by observing the boss and his surroundings, he is hired at once. Teaming up with a fellow investigator, Siri (Wynona Rider), they go on road trips to determine the settlement of claims. Siri instantly dislikes many of Michael's over cautious ways. But, after learning the correct happenstances of a man buried under a Coke machine (was it the machine manufacturer's fault or did the man trigger his own demise), Siri is impressed. Further trips uncover incredibly stupid folks. There's the man who claims his car was stolen but who is found to have accidentally let it sink while ice fishing. Then, there's the hilarious tale of the two morons in Nevada (one is played by David Arquette) who try for a speed record with a salvaged government rocket strapped to their car. When the duo finally ends up at the aftermath of a Metallica concert, where two imbeciles tried and failed to go over an extremely high wall to get in without tickets, Siri finally has her eyes on Michael. But, will it be love eternal? This dark, dark comedy has some objectionable language and scenes, on occasion, but is truly a laugh riot. Fiennes is adorable as the man who lives by the odds of accidents and Rider is cute as the somewhat jaded investigator. Arquette, Dunn, Tom Hollander, Lukas Haas, and all of the cameos, including Metallica itself, are a pleasure indeed. Then, too, the scenery is wonderful as it varies from snowy Minnesota to dry Nevada to lovely Oregon. Most importantly, the script is clever and funny while the direction never lags. Award yourself an evening of chuckles by finding the film soon.

This is a hit and miss comedy with four or five hysterical scenes and four or five too confused to be funny scenes. It has some sharply original moments, but it also copies too much from the television series "Monk" The television series "Pushing Daisies" also seems to have elements in common.It actually could have been good as a television series. Joseph Fiennes is much better here than he was on "Flash Forward". At least here, he laughs and shows some human emotions. Winona Ryder gives wonderful support as usual.There are lots of stars here, but unfortunately there parts are only four or five minutes each. It is nice to see people like Nora Dunn and Juliet Lewis who don't work enough these days.Sadly, this was Chris Penn's last major film. He accidentally died of a massive heart attack brought on by drugs like cocaine, and over-eating steaks and chocolate milk shakes at the rather young age of 40. It is quite ironic that his last major work should be a film about the stupid ways that people die. Not to be cruel, as Penn was a wonderful actor, but his death could be added quite easily to the five or six ridiculous deaths and accidents that the movie chronicles.My favorite scene in the movie is the one at the Metallica concert. I have a feeling that Heavy Metal music fans often win Darwin Awards (awards for bizarre and stupid deaths).There's a good selection of popular songs on the soundtrack.If you don't expect too much in the way of coherence and can get into the silly spirit of the film, it can be enjoyable.Incidentally, you should keep watching to the end of the credits for one last joke at the end.

The Darwin Awards was too well written for the substandard acting of Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes who were very privileged to be given the main roles. It was full of funny concepts, twists, and turns; but fell short of the gut-busting laughter that I had hoped for. I can say, however, that I won't forget the movie because the back-up casting was excellent and helped keep my attention between nodding off and hovering my finger over the "stop" button on my remote. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this movie to a friend as a "good" movie to watch, but rather something to watch if someone is home sick on a Friday night with either this or "Nanny Dearest" to choose from to keep them remotely distracted from fever, chills, and general discomfort...such as I did.

This was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, hands down. It did take a few minutes to get into, but ultimately my husband and I enjoyed it immensely. Definitely worth renting.There were so many scenes we loved, where my husband literally almost fell off the couch from laughing so hard. Not sure why some people didn't like it. Maybe I can understand the issue of mocking death. But then why would you go see a comedy that you know is about death to begin with? So don't pay attention to ridiculous comments from people who are oversensitive. The movie is well acted and very, very funny. Also was good to see Winona again. Okay, so maybe she's a klepto, but hey she can act. And that Joseph Feinnes is awesome as well...enjoyed his nude shower scene :-)