Product Details

• Actors: Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Ty Burrell, Josh Charles
• Directors: Finn Taylor
• Writers: Finn Taylor
• Producers: Andy Mayson, Charles Hsiao, Christos Michaels, Debbie Brubaker, Dieter Busch
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: July 31, 2007
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000QGDJF6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,848 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Darwin Awards" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/10/2008 Rating: R

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Darwin Awards - Dark Humor, Great Writing and an All-Star Cast!!!, October 26, 2007

By 

Mark "Technology, Music and Movies" (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)   

This review is from: The Darwin Awards (DVD)

The Darwin Awards is about an eccentric investigator obsessed with the Darwin Award deaths - awards for those who die in such stupid ways their death raises humanity's IQ.

This movie is not a traditional comedy and will not appeal to everybody. However, if you enjoy dark humor, sharp wit and reading between the lines, you will find a LOT to enjoy in this movie. The script is expertly written, and the cast will make you wonder why you never heard of this movie.

Joe Feinnes plays the detective, and he switches to being an insurance claims investigator when he loses his job at the San Francisco Police Department. He is paired with Winona Ryder, a cynical claims agent slow to accept his psychological theories. In time they grow closer, and eventually she helps him catch the one crook who escaped him as a cop.

The story is filmed from the perspective of a documentary film maker played by Wilmer Valderama. There are also cameo appearances by John Doe (from the L.A. punk band X), beat poet Lawrence Ferlingetti, writer Josh Kornbluth, and Metallica. Add to that an all-star cast that includes:
David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies, Robin Tunney, Nora Dunn, Tom Hollander, Alessandro Nivola and the late Chris Penn in his final role. The list goes on.

The dialogue is subtle so I can understand why some might not find this to be their cup of tea. Some of the death stories could have been executed better. The romantic climax of the film also seems forced. Still, the good far outweighs the bad here. If you give this movie a second chance you might be surprised.

Overall, this is a fun movie that will make you laugh. If you are a fan of "Six Feet Under," you will find yourself wondering why there wasn't a mass market for this film. Enjoy!

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Can't make up its mind, May 16, 2007

By 

L. Last "Movie Buff" (The realy GREAT lake state) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Darwin Awards (DVD)

Althought the premise is good, the cast fabulous (chuck full of cameo performances), and the production values above average, this film doesn't know whether it wants to be a Rom-Com, straight comedy, or mystery. So it's all three. The staging of the various "Darwin Awards" is usually VERY funny, and Fiennes does a great job as the lead (he's genuinely funny doing both slapstick and some more 'high-brow' stuff);but Ryder's 'tough-girl' is just too cliched, and you never really get to feel that she is capable of becoming involved with Fiennes. If you are looking for a little mindless fun(and I do mean mindless, as in people doing some really absurd stunts)then you will like this film.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All of my heroes have always been nervous, fragile creatures, June 15, 2010

By 

HIRAM "The Widow's Son" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Darwin Awards (DVD)

Finn Taylor (whose big directorial showcases are CHERISH and DREAM WITH THE FISHES) showed me a good time with this 2006 film, THE DARWIN AWARDS. A moderate, take-it-or-leave-it good time, but at least I laughed (a few scenes made me roar).

Joseph Fiennes plays a smart and elegant-looking Mike Burrows, SFPD forensics/homicide detective extraordinaire. His problem is what we know as vasovagal episodes with syncope: it means he faints dead away at the sight of blood. Kind of like the serial killer Dexter. He faints once too often, causing Harold-Lloyd-type situations and gets fired (I was reminded a bit of Lloyd's 1932 film WELCOME DANGER, a great classic).

Mike decides he'd better move and get another job. Somehow he inveigles his way into an insurance company and takes a shot at getting claim investigator status. The boss (the always delightful Kevin Dunn of TRANSFORMERS fame) gives him 30 days to run through several impossible claims in order to land the job.

Mike gets teamed with veteran investigator Siri Taylor (a lovely turn by my big "crush" Winona Ryder, whose names I always misspell due to being starstruck). Along for the entire ride, though I cannot explain this cumbersome and unnecessary jape, is an annoying young documentary-maker (Wilmer Valderrama)--working on a project about Mike though it seems in the end he is simply gay and looking for someone on whom to obsess.

"Darwin Awards" is Mike's autistic codeword for people who cause their own demise due to extreme stupidity. There is a lesson to be learned from this, I think, but the film blows its chances. These accidents, the cases Mike has to solve and settle claim, are your typical stupid-idiot-urban-legend stuff. What is interesting and made me laugh was that both Mike and Siri begin identifying with the pathetic creatures who kill themselves through sheer stupidity.

Mike begins to wonder why he can't live to the full, seeing as how the character is a rip-off of Tony Shalhoub's MONK. Meanwhile Siri is overwhelmed with sadness because she has been at this for 15 years and cannot become emotionally compromised by what she sees.

Well, the film is funny a great deal of the time; it has some side-splitting instances, and Fiennes has a comic gift I would never have expected of him. He almost reminds me of a sedate Jim Carey. Winona, as I said, is beautiful and fetching in this movie. I wish she were less gonged-in-the-head and hadn't thrown in the whistle so long ago. She is precious, and yet the last decent thing she got to do was play the tormented android in ALIEN RESURRECTION.

This film, I think, does a nice job exploring the motives people have for doing stupid, thoughtless things...but then, watch the film and let the intrepid Mike explain it all to you as he solves cases and saves the world. We need more fragile superheroes, and Mike and Siri are two of the best I have seen.

I'm not sure whether I'd want to own this or not. Since it is surely worth a viewing or two, especially for Fiennes' shower scene which is a classic in film history, well...get it if you like. It's too 1980s for my taste and they could have done better; it's the 21st century for heaven's sake.

Also, be warned of some sexually puerile scenes; though not grotesquely explicit, they are nevertheless embarrassing.