Sundance: “On the Count of Three” review

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

Meeting characters at a moment where they want to end their lives is a complicated endeavor. It’s important to introduce them and explain who they are while communicating what has happened to get them to this mental place. Such narratives are often melancholy, but they can also be unexpectedly funny, as is the case with On the Count of Three...

Val (Jerrod Carmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) hold guns pointed at each other in the opening scene, ready to pull the triggers when they reach the magic number. We soon learn that, hours earlier, Kevin was being held at a psychiatric facility following an earlier suicide attempt, and Val tried to hang himself in a bathroom at work but didn’t make the belt tight enough. Val proposes that they do each other a favor and ensure that there are no mistakes this time, and Kevin declares that they should have a memorable last day before that fateful time arrives.

This is Carmichael’s directorial debut, a completely different specimen than his NBC sitcom, The Carmichael Show. The comedy here is much subtler, emerging in the absurdity of the situations in which Val and Kevin find themselves trying to accomplish the minimal set of goals they have made for their last day. Some of it shouldn’t be funny, but the way that it’s portrayed makes it impossible not to find it enjoyable. 

Carmichael has given himself a great role here as the much more mild-mannered Val, but the true slam-dunk performance comes from Abbott. No stranger to Sundance, the Black Bear and James White star typically plays gruff, temperamental characters who sometimes border on psychotic and violent (see his terrific turn in Sweet Virginia). I’ve never seen him display so much energy and enthusiasm, and it makes Kevin an absolutely compelling and fantastic character. The combination of his ultra-liberal political sentiments and his new no-tomorrow attitude is particularly hilarious, and Abbott pulls off that imbalance terrifically.

Like its two protagonists, this film manages to simultaneously be many different things. It won’t appeal to everyone, but it does offer stunning insight into the minds of two friends who have never really committed themselves to anything. Making the choice to go all out before taking their final bow has unexpected and unpolished results, and watching it is a wondrous, enthralling, and surprisingly touching pleasure.