by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
What is the challenge of creating an effective dark comedy? First and foremost, it is hard enough to make a standard comedy work. So much goes into being funny and getting people to laugh. Humor is subjective and you will never get the whole audience laughing. Generally, the most common and crowd-pleasing jokes are also the ones that are low brow and overly basic. There is a cleverness that is needed to add a darker edge to the humor. You also must balance the dark themes of the film while still gaining laughs. Expectations change as well with perspectives on what humor is appropriate. Actor turned director Jerrod Carmichael throws his hat into the ring on this one to see if he can deliver.
What themes and darker ideas does Carmichael attempt to talk about in his latest film On the Count of Three? Suicide. This is one of the darkest concepts that you can possibly cover in a film. People die everyday but the tragedy of suicide is on a whole other level. This story follows two “brothers” who both have found themselves in dark places in their lives. Their solution? Commit suicide together. Val (Carmichael) finds himself at a point in his life where he is ready to end it. His friend, Kevin (Christopher Abbott), is recovering from an attempt and Val decides they need to take care of this mission together. Kevin pushes back and they decide to take one last day before ending it.
Sounds like quite the subject, right? Carmichael is saddled with a challenging tightrope to walk. Val and Kevin both obviously have serious mental health issues that need to be processed in the film. The film takes plenty of time in portraying the anxiety and suffering that both characters go through. These effects are manifested in different ways for each character, but they are equally moving (Kevin’s blasting of music is one of the more fun elements of the film). But the film also gives plenty of time to explore their histories of trauma. Carmichael can deliver impactful and emotional scenes for both Val and Kevin as they confront their previous trauma. This brisk and relatively short film offers up a lot and that can be to its detriment at times. But overall, this is an impressive directorial effort from Carmichael.
But do the dual screenwriters (Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch) lay down a strong base for the rest of the film? The humor is sharp and funny as both Carmichael and Abbott get some quality dialogue to throw around during the film. The film avoids heavy-handed elements with the consistent character moments that help the audience visualize our leads’ struggles without too much exposition. Each interaction in the film feels like quality and the dialogue was well thought out. The pacing of the narrative feels just about right as Katcher and Welch were both able to pull back layers at just the right time. The characters have depth and there are serious complexities to them which makes for more meaningful growth and better arcs for the audience to sink their teeth into.
With such a heavy topic, can the cast carry both the humorous and emotionally weighty loads? Carmichael is a strong anchoring presence to the film. He is asked to deliver in some stressful and emotional settings that come off as genuine. The same goes for Abbott who is allotted more time and material to go a little bigger with his performance. The rest of this impressive supporting cast (including Tiffany Haddish, JB Smoove, and Henry Winkler) arrive for limited screen time but offer up plenty for the leads to work with while building plenty of emotion and chemistry on screen.
Does Carmichael thread the needle and make it across this emotional tightrope? Without a doubt…yes. There are flaws which the film wears well as it delivers on so many other levels. You will laugh (and question if you should be). You will feel plenty. In the end, there are heavy themes that carry this above just another black comedy.
Score: 9/10
You can follow Shane Conto on Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd