And by God you'll wish he had. Well received within indie circuits this is invariably described as humorous and subtle with great characterisations. God knows where people get this view from. The script contains no subtlety or finesse, giving us the bare bones of what passes for key moments in the story, and features dialogue that makes you presume it was written in a foreign language and then translated using Google. Apparently a story of teaching those who have given up on life to reclaim it, it left us with a feeling that those who reclaimed didn't deserve it and should have been left to die in the opening scene.

I get suspicious when movies push lessons about life, as if movie realities can substitute for, rather than amplify, actual experience.In this, you're seeing the Genesis story of Jacob and Esau...this includes the parents who 'played favorites', the 'elder brother serving the younger', and the behind the scenes double cross ("Is that why he is called Jacob, because he has deceived me these two times?"). When Sives fails to suicide, his description of the nothingness is the revocation of Jacob's dream of the glorious ladder to Heaven. He wrestles an angel (the water rescue), and thence receives his blessing.So that's *what* it is -- can one launch a dark comedy off this platform?I think this was a shameful missed opportunity to stick to just that -- notions of comedy. It is crushed by the self-important tone of the drama, and the utterly unimaginative camera work. Also, there was a chance to augment this with borrowings from Kipling -- who knew how to be darkly self-effacing -- but all we get are the collections of dead writers (the bookstore).

"Wilbur wants to kill himself" is a (so)moving parable about how easy is to let yourself die when everything seems meaningless and how hard is to live when a disease is mining you. Wilbur looks like a nice guy, the kind of man women like, he's good-looking, he has a brother who loves him... it doesn't seem like his existence is that miserable. Nevertheless he wants to leave this world, that's one of men's last rights so he'll try to kill himself in any possible way. On the contrary, his brother Harbour is full of life, he's an enthusiastic person, he's in love and he's just get married... how ironic, he has an incurable cancer, but that won't stop him from clinging to life till the last consequences. Scherfig has moved away from the stupid DOGMA corset, and creates a perfect balance between the smile and the crying, tenderness and misanthropy, between life and death. She reduces the roughness of the hardest moments with a sarcastic turn or relying on the darkest sense of humor (that's always the best antidote against tragedy). Step by step she shows Wilbur the right way (and to all of us). No moral judgments, no dogmatism... there's no need to. Wilbur is a celebration of life, but is also a show of respect for those who don't wanna live anymore. Eventually it is a celebration of the best cinema: the one that makes you feel better. *My rate: 8.5/10

I've given this movie a five based purely on the strength of the performances and competent editing, pacing, shot composition, etc. I admired Lone Scherfig (the director's) previous film, Italian For Beginners, and respect her abilities, and while parts of the film were enjoyable enough, the last half left a bad taste in my mouth.I found the characters of Wilbur and Alice (though I liked the actors) to be so self centered and morally bankrupt that on hindsight I wish that Wilbur had done himself in in the first scene, or the fourth scene, or the seventh scene...whatever. I don't always need to like characters, and perhaps since this was sold as a "black comedy" what I was expecting from the film was skewed. There are comic moments, but this is no comedy. I know a sort of moral ambiguity is a distinct characteristic of Danish cinema, and am actually a fan of Lars Von Trier's work and films that push conventional ideas of human relationships, but this particular turn of events was just distasteful to me. I kind of felt duped. Maybe I'll warm to the film with time, but that's my take. Wilbur was a complete tool. That's what I came away from this movie with. But once again, kudos to the actors and direction. Loved the film-making, disliked the film.