Save your money for something good and enjoyable

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie had potential. It had a interesting premise, people who kill themselves through their own sheer stupidity, but struggled to create a plot to draw the view in. Joseph Fiennes awkwardly plays a police personality profiler turned insurance claims investigator who faints at the sight of blood and can't figure out social interactions. He gets paired up with a no-nonsense insurance claims investor played by Winona Ryder, and they go cross country investigating and debunking the claims of various Darwin Award types who hurt themselves through their ridiculous actions. The movie is filled with brief appearances by recognizable TV actors like Ty Burrell, Julianna Marguiles, Josh Charles, Tim Blake Nelson, Juliette Lewis, and David Arquette. There is even a brief appearance Mythbusters' Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who have debunked several of the stories featured in the movie on their show. However, the laughs and only occasional, and the time in between them could best be described as plodding. The movie isn't terrible, but there is probably a more entertaining way you could kill 90 minutes.

I saw this appear on Showtime and it looked like it was going to be interesting. I liked the way that the film paid homage to the web site and even showed it so that others not in the know could enjoy the delights of the site.I was a bit disappointed in the star billing of David Arquette, I expected him to have a bigger role. I know that he did take part in one of the more major "Darwin" stories but he wasn't really even close to being the main character.As far as the "awards" went, I would have liked to see more of them, maybe not as long as some of the big ones, little snippets like the one that starts the movie, I feel that this is the main reason people will want to watch the movie.The interpersonal relationship between the two main characters was somewhat interesting but I felt that it went a bit too far. Concerning the "documentary" film maker, that was just annoying and did not add much to the plot or the pace of the film; it was more of a distraction than anything else.Overall I gave this a 5 because I felt that it could have delivered much much more than it did but there is enough there to spend an hour and a half with.Finally the inclusion of the dudes from Muthbusters was great, they played it somewhat tongue in cheek which made it even funnier.

While quite original in it's concept of studying people who kill themselves in incredibly stupid ways, the delivery is jumbled and not as entertaining as it might have been. If you were to lose the totally unnecessary documentary film maker and the ridiculous, cartoon-like serial killer, the movie would have benefited. When it is describing one of the outrageous idiots and their stunts, the film is in high gear. Unfortunately it repeatedly bogs down and this starting and stopping ruins the whole tone of "The Darwin Awards". I recommend simply checking out the idiotic segments and skipping the rest. This would have made a superior short, but as a feature it fails, because there is too much going on at once. Less would have been best. - MERK

The fun part was saying, "Oh, that's so-and-so" during the movie. And any movie that casts the Mythbusters as arms dealers is OK by me. I thought Ryder and Fiennes were good--but I would watch Joseph Fiennes read the Yellow Pages, so I may not be a good source. Excellent use of Ferlinghetti and Metallica as well. The murder mystery plot line was a little weak; I would have liked to see more examples of Darwin-ish behavior. All in all, it was a good way to spend 1:34 of my time, and I recommend it to anyone to watch instantly. I don't know if I would wait for it to come in the mail but as an impulse, it was good. Netflix should add more like this.