I wanted to but couldn't!

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The Darwin Awards, which is a real event, is an example of good film that died because of bad distribution and promotion. I can't understand how such an enjoyable film, despite being lightweight, was buried almost without a trace.The leads Joe Feinnes and Winona Ryder (in her post shoplifting wilderness years) do good jobs in a tongue-in-cheek, yet serious role about investigating moronic actions that get people killed.I never get tired of watching what could be David Arquette's best performance. The film is a riot...it really a lot of fun if you don't take it too seriously, yet realizing these are actual cases that have been part of the awards.The documentary that is being made as a fly on the wall for our two protagonists, serves as a humorous and effective way to present dramatic asides. Yet, the final action is left for the cameraman.

"The Darwin Awards" is a funny dark comedy.The plot: Michael Burrows (Fiennes) is obsessed with "The Darwin Awards" which is about people who kill themselves in the stupidest way possible. After he's fired from his detective job, he goes on a quest with Siri (Ryder) to figure why this happens.Fiennes and Ryder have decent chemistry and the all-star cameos are fun to watch. Arquette's bit is interesting about the guy who puts a rocket on his car. It's also nice to see one of Penn's last performances. The ending involving Metallica was a little lame though. They don't need to act.Once again, it's odd that such a big film goes straight-to-video, but it's better than the movie staying on some shelf somewhere collecting dust.Overall, "The Darwin Awards" is worth-seeing for the acting and the crazy stunts.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

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 :-)

The Darwin Awards is a quirky little independent film, loosely based on the website & spin-off books cataloging the real-life stories of people who have suffered accidents caused by their own stupidity. Any individuals who are killed are posthumously given a 'Darwin Award' for improving Mankind's gene pool by removing themselves from it.The movie stars Joseph Fiennes as a police profiler whose unfortunate tendency to faint at the sight of blood (he's phobic) causes him to get discharged from the force. Finding employment with an insurance company, he's partnered with experienced, hot-shot investigator Winona Ryder, who specialises in bizarre and unusual claims. Together the two of them travel back and forth across America, examining various strange accidents.One of the things I liked most about this film is that the accidents that Fiennes and Ryder investigate are all based on well known urban legends, and such modern-day myths have always fascinated me. I own many books on the subject, and have enjoyed previous movies that have either used an urban legend as a starting point and then built a story around it (for example, Dead Man's Curve, When a Stranger Calls, and Lover's Lane), or have featured several legends (all three Urban Legends movies, and the anthology film Campfire Tales). Therefore, I got a huge thrill seeing several urban legends reenacted in The Darwin Awards.Although it's an independent production, the movie has an impressive budget and features many big name stars in cameos (including Chris Penn in his last role - he died the day before the film debuted at Sundance). However it went straight to DVD, both in America and here in the UK. I suppose it's hard to market an offbeat, character-led black comedy in which most of the laughs are generated by people getting either seriously injured or killed. Personally, I liked it a lot.