The Darwin Awards: Grade C

C

The Darwin Awards (2006)

Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder. Director Finn Taylor.

An insurance investigator (Ryder) teams up with a forensic specialist (Fiennes) to check out several insurance claims in this episodic comedy. Each of the incidents they look at involves someone who accidentally got killed while doing something incredibly stupid, but as the title suggests, it is probably better to have those individuals out of the gene pool (Har, har. Assuming intelligence can be defined and is a genetic trait). The humor comes from the crazy situations, which copy movies like Jackass, Dumb and Dumber, etc. but are mostly made to seem almost reasonable as they develop. There is no overall plot or outcome. The dialog is mildly witty. It’s good to see Ryder on screen again but her over-earnest performance is grating here. Perhaps that’s the director's problem. Fiennes looks amazingly like his brother. An amusing but forgettable light comedy.