In his directorial debut, actor/comedian Jerrod Carmichael is fearless in his telling of a story about suicide…that’s funny?! On the Count of Three is a somewhat winning pitch-black comedy and quite a thoughtful, honest drama about depression and mental illness. And none of it would work as well as it does without the cracking chemistry between Carmichael and Christopher Abbott – playing best buds who are ready to go out with a bang.
Val (Carmichael) is ignoring his pregnant girlfriend (Tiffany Haddish) and taking early smoke breaks at his dead-end job where he tries to hang himself in the bathroom after getting a promotion. It’s a failed attempt and he quits on the spot. Meanwhile, Kevin (Abbott) is in a mental institution reaching his breaking point with a doctor as this is nothing new for him. He’s been through this more or less his whole life and believes he’s unfixable at this point. Val has perfect timing, coming to the rescue to bust Kevin out of the joint with a plan in mind.
With each pointing a gun at the other’s face, Val and Kevin seem ready to put each other out of their misery. Well…not so fast. They delay the inevitable, making a suicide pact to go through with it by the end of the day. Coming face-to-face with the last hours of their lives, they plan on really living it up – righting some wrongs along the way. When there’s no tomorrow, that means there are no consequences for today. Folks like Val’s abusive father (J.B. Smoove) and Kevin’s horrid childhood doctor (Henry Winkler) should be very afraid.
Carmichael, with writers Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch, take such sensitive subject matter and beautifully depict it while never softening these proven feelings of pain, rage and hopelessness shared by our two leads. It’s rather moving watching Val and Kevin try to help each other, though simultaneously tragic because they can’t ever seem to help themselves. Both actors’ portrayals walk a fine line in a narrative that’s juggling a few genres; but, no matter how damn demanding it must have been physically and/or mentally – they make it look especially effortless and authentic.
On the Count of Three may be guilty of being negligibly uneven and undeveloped from time to time. Be that as it may, this is unquestionably a dynamic and daring debut for Carmichael in his first outing as a director. His bold spirit and confidence behind the camera comes through in so many scenes. And while the film embraces dark humor when dealing with some serious shit, there’s a bit of heart in there, too. Val and Kevin have had it with their lives and death looks to be the best way out of it. However, what’s ironic is Carmichael and Abbott’s fantastic camaraderie proves precisely the opposite. This thing called life might be worth cherishing after all.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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