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Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, Tim Blake Nelson, Wilmer Valderrama, David Arquette ... see more see more... , Ty Burrell , Josh Charles , Kevin Dunn , Nora Dunn , Judah Friedlander , Lukas Haas , Tom Hollander , Brad Hunt , Juliette Lewis , Julianna Margulies , Alessandro Nivola , Chris Penn , Max Perlich , D.B. Sweeney , Robin Tunney , Tom Wright , Adonal Foyle , Jamie Hyneman , Adam Savage , Richmond Arquette , Mick Breitenstein , Josh Kornbluth , Jerry Harrison , John Doe , Lawrence Ferlinghetti , Metallica , Ross Patterson , George Maguire (I)

When a San Francisco homicide detective with a keen eye for criminal profiling is fired for botching the arrest of a notorious serial killer, his subsequent effort to reinvent himself as an insurance ... read more read more...claims case-investigator leads him to study a series of perplexing wrongful deaths in this comedy starring Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, Tim Blake Nelson, and Wilmer Valderrama. Michael Burrows (Fiennes) isn't your typical detective. Though Detective Burrows is a paranoid obsessive-compulsive who faints at the sight of blood, his remarkable insight into the criminal mindset has nevertheless made him a valuable asset to the San Francisco Police Department. When Detective Burrows' idiosyncrasies allow the feared "North Beach Killer" to elude capture, however, he is fired by his superiors. Upon offering his unique skills to a doubting insurance company, Burrows is given 30 days in which to prove he can sort out the legitimate claims from the false ones. Now, as Burrows makes for the Midwest in the company of hard-nosed field agent Siri Tyler (Ryder), the film student (Valderrama) who has been following the former detective for his thesis follows the pair as they investigate a series of forehead-slapping deaths, including that of a powerful executive who attempts to prove that his high-rise window is unbreakable and a pair of English tourists who fatally misinterpret the "cruise control" function on their rented RV. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

46% liked it

6,173 ratings

Critics

25% liked it

12 critics

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Directed by: Finn Taylor

Release Date: July 5, 2006

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DVD Release Date: July 31, 2007

Stats: 934 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (934)

  • LWOODS04
    October 12, 2011
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Chris Penn, Max Perlich, Brad Hunt, Tim Blake Nelson, Julianna Margulies, Tom Hollander, Juliette Lewis, Nora Dunn, Lukas Haas, Ty Burrell, Judah Friedlander, Wilmer Valderrama, Alessandro Nivola, D.B. Sweeney, Mickey Breitenste... read morein, Josh Kornbluth

    Director: Finn Taylor

    Summary: When his tendency to faint at the sight of blood becomes a liability, detective Michael Burrows (Joseph Fiennes) finds himself out of a job. Fortunately, the perceptive profiler has no trouble peddling his skills to an insurance company. Teaming up with field agent Siri Taylor (Winona Ryder), Michael attempts to identify people who might accidentally kill themselves out of sheer stupidity.

    My Thoughts: "It''s a very funny quirky film. It's full of odd character's, especially the lead played hilariously by Joseph Fiennes. Winona Ryder is great in this as well. I miss her in films. The movie actually has a very big cast with a variety of actor's. You are shown how doing some pretty dumb thing's can so easily end your life. Though I think the shower scene is the funniest part in the film for me. The film is much better then what the summary describes it to be. It was a great surprise at how much I enjoyed the film and how much I laughed. Great movie for a slow day or night."
  • mjgildea
    January 12, 2009
    mjgildea
    The Darwin Awards is a flawed but oftentimes fun movie. Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder are great even if their chemistry is iffy at times. This movie is more of a series of funny parts but as a continuous narrative its really lacking. The casting, cameos or whatever were all acr... read moreoss the board and I spent a lot of time watching The Darwin Awards distracted wondering what the hell was going to happen next. Then Metallica showed up. Seriously, Metallica is in this movie. The documentary aspect of this movie was its worst part. I understand that it was trying to hold the story together but mostly it was just annoying.
  • garyX
    January 4, 2009
    garyX
    Based on the website devoted to people who have removed themselves from the gene pool in variously absurd ways, this cash-in of the idea features Joseph Fiennes doing his best Adrian Monk impersonation as an insurance investigator looking into the claims of those involved. On pap... read moreer, this sounds like a great idea but what you get is a half arsed episode of the X-Files, except it's "funny". Except it isn't. They just recreate some of the more ridiculous unintentional suicides while Fiennes and Winona Ryder go through the motions of a completely unconvincing romance and pretend to be insightful by spouting Sunday supplement pop psychology. Oh, and there's also a serial killer investigation that couldn't be more tacked on if it was written on a post-it stuck on the front of the DVD box. The whole thing just feels like a pilot episode of a TV series that never got made because it only has one idea that doesn't even stretch to the 80 minutes on display here.
  • Godless
    January 4, 2009
    Godless
    A very enjoyable rough film.
  • liquidchick76
    September 7, 2008
    liquidchick76
    relatively amusing with a lot of fun cameos.
  • gor41
    October 14, 2007
    gor41
    Plain, dull tale purportedly about the stupid ways people remove themselves from the gene pool but can't resist crowbarring in a romance and serial killer. A starry cast must have been attracted by the premise but only Ryder has any spark.
  • deano
    September 3, 2007
    deano
    Seemed an okay comedy, weird, but a bit funny to me. I laughed at four victims got injured bandages after the accident when a RV in automotic crashed through the dental building.
  • fb100000440772572
    April 28, 2012
    fb100000440772572
    The Darwin Awards is a fun screwball comedy, but has trouble with its storytelling. When a former police detective learns about the Darwin Awards, for those who take themselves out of the gene pool, he tries to develop a system to identify individuals prone to becoming Darwin ca... read morendidates. The cast is led by Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder, and features Tim Blake Nelson, David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, and Metallica. Some of the Darwin cases are fun, but a few of them are too drawn out and too ridiculous. Though the humor is a bit spotty, The Darwin Awards is fairly entertaining and good for some laughs.
  • bcavros
    October 2, 2011
    bcavros
    A series of vignettes that never really tied together into a movie. I watched the end over a year ago and figured i missed some action in the beginning that tied it all together. 2nd watching it still as uneven as ever.

    Joseph Fiennes tries to portray an Phobic detective (ala ... read moreAdrian Monk) and fails and Winona Ryder tries to portray a hardened insurance investigator or something and fails.

    The movie requires the audience has bought in and attempt to play off this as a base, but without the initial buy-in its a good-concept that turns out as nothing but a mess.
  • ileo
    December 14, 2008
    ileo
    An interesting movie with a sense of humor, looking at life! Intriguing story plot that follows a pair of individuals, a forensic detective and an insurance claims investigator. Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder stars. Great cast! Fascinating music. Worth seeing!

View All The Darwin Awards Reviews

Critic Reviews

Ruthe Stein
September 7, 2007
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

The humor dissipates as we watch one weird death after another. Full Review

James Greenberg
January 31, 2006
James Greenberg, Hollywood Reporter

Taylor and his friends seem to be having a great time but could have let the audience in on the joke.

Dennis Harvey
January 26, 2006
Dennis Harvey, Variety

Sports too many formulaic weaknesses of mainstream laffers while straining for an indie cred that hitherto came naturally to writer-director Finn Taylor. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
September 13, 2007
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

A delightful, winning tribute to those annual kudos given to people who died from sheer stupidity, thereby improving the gene pool. Full Review

Kevin Carr
September 9, 2007
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

If writer/director Finn Taylor could have made up his mind about the movie he was making, it would have held together better. Full Review

Kam Williams
August 27, 2007
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze

Just a voyeuristic excuse to watch people die in different ways. Full Review

Brian Webster
August 9, 2007
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide

Writer/ director Finn Taylor's problem is that he wrote a painfully weak script, mostly wasting both acting talent and funny stories in the process. Full Review

Christopher Null
August 6, 2007
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

tries so very hard but just doesn't manage to be very funny Full Review

Eric D. Snider
February 27, 2006
Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com

Will probably deserve a Darwin Award itself after dying quietly at the box office and thus strengthening the art of filmmaking in general. Full Review

Don R. Lewis
February 7, 2006
Don R. Lewis, Film Threat

While the film has some funky flaws, it's a terrific satire and is downright hilarious. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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