Sundance Film Festival movie review: 'On the Count of Three'

(Image courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)

The dark drama 'On the Count of Three' (world premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival) finds with two friends without a hope left in the world - and despite exploring some terribly bleak themes, this is a warped bromance at its core.

In short: Best friends Val (Jerrod Carmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) agree to a double suicide pact - but they decide to wrap up some unfinished business first.

Any film even slightly rooted in the concept of suicide runs the risk of alienation its audience from the very outset. The opening shot firmly makes clear that Val and Kevin don't merely have some vague notion of ending their lives. Suicide is the end goal for these two friends - an idea that itself can be triggering or distasteful. This is an upfront word of caution to anyone who might be put off by a story where the protagonist's endgame is mutual suicide - and everything leading up to this planned end is just Val and Kevin tying up loose ends before ending their lives.

Now, with that said, 'Count of Three' uses the notion of 'one last day on Earth' as a means of untethering the two friends and letting them do whatever it is they wanted to do. A stupider version of this film would have just been pure fantasy, wherein the two friends would just have fun without consequences and just stick it to the world around them. But this film wisely remembers who these two men are, and never forgets the natures they've lived with their entire lives.

Director-star Jerrod Carmichael's filmmaking debut mines laughs and an unexpectedly sweet friendship from the pitch black hopelessness of losing the will to live. Frankly, on paper, it's no small miracle that Carmichael thread the needle with a film that could have very easily collapsed upon the heavy weight of its subject matter. Just explaining what this film is all about is a hard sell to the casual filmgoer - because anyone looking for an escape from daily life probably isn't looking to immerse themselves in the story of two friends so desperate to escape the pain in their lives that they make a suicide pact. The fact that Carmichael took this story as his directorial debut is an act of pure confidence - and more impressively, Carmichael's balances the dark with the heartfelt.

Co-star Christopher Abbott once again proves he's one of the great unsung actors of his generation. Kevin starts from a place where trauma has robbed him of hope and replaced it with seething anger, but Abbott's performance still brims with an unexpected sweetness. Abbott taps into Kevin's resentment and deep emotional pain - pain born from festering emotional injuries that he's carried with him since childhood. And yet, Abbot finds Kevin's effortless compassion and earnest vulnerability. With Abbott's nuanced talent, of course Kevin is capable of hatching a fatally dangerous revenge plan ... and be the same guy who sincerely apologizes after hitting someone with a tire iron. His performances is volatile and sincere.

Final verdict: This bold drama gets degree of difficulty points just for the sheer audacity of, against all odds, finding warmth, laughs and heartache amid a plot where the protagonists plan an entire day around violence and suicide.

Score: 4/5

'On the Count of Three' screens at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. This comedic drama is not yet rated and has a running time of 84 minutes.

Directed by Jerrod Carmichael / Screenplay by Ari Katcher & Ryan Welch / Cinematography by Marshall Adams / Film Editing by Tom Eagles & Ernie Gilbert / Production design by Garren Dunbar / Starring Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove, Lavell Crawford & Henry Winkler.