The Darwin Awards

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The Darwin Awards

R

2006

1h 34m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

25%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

45%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

After botching the capture of a notorious serial killer, idiosyncratic detective Michael Burrows (Joseph Fiennes) loses his job with the San Francisco Police. He becomes an investigator for an insurance company and joins forces with a cynical field agent (Winona Ryder) to probe suspicious and unusual deaths.

Ruthe Stein

San Francisco Chronicle

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

Rated: 2/4

Sep 7, 2007

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James Greenberg

The Hollywood Reporter

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

Jan 31, 2006

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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.

Jan 26, 2006

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Reel.com

Rated: 3/4

Oct 20, 2007

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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.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 13, 2007

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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.

Rated: 2/5

Sep 9, 2007

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Steve D

The cast of a good film is here as is the premise. It needs a script.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/01/24

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Audience Member

An entertaining and fun movie to watch with stupid deaths

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One thing i love is..this is almost a reunion of Winona Ryder and Lukas Haas..should be..wish to see them in one scene!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

Comedia ligera para el lucimiento de Finnes y mi adorada Winona Ryder, pelicula mas cercana a un telefim con muchos cameos incluidos del grupo Metallica.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Fiennes and Ryder come into contact with numerous cameos on a "10,000 Ways to Die" road trip. Not especially funny, but I liked seeing familiar actors. Even the Mythbusters are in a scene.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

There's a kernel of potential quality contained somewhere in the screenplay; the rocket car and Metallica concert segments play out reasonably well. But Taylor's direction everywhere else is beyond incompetent, especially in any scene involving Fiennes, who himself puts in a god-awful performance. I've been curious about this movie for a while now, and only really watched it to answer the question, "How does one make a movie out of the Darwin Awards?" The answer is one probably shouldn't.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Finn Taylor

Director

Joseph Fiennes

Michael Burrows

Winona Ryder

Siri Tyler

Tim Blake Nelson

North Beach Killer

David Arquette

Harvey

Alessandro Nivola

Ad Exec

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Synopsis

After botching the capture of a notorious serial killer, idiosyncratic detective Michael Burrows (Joseph Fiennes) loses his job with the San Francisco Police. He becomes an investigator for an insurance company and joins forces with a cynical field agent (Winona Ryder) to probe suspicious and unusual deaths.

Director: Finn Taylor
Producer: Jane Sindell, Johnny Wow, Jason Blum
Screenwriter: Finn Taylor
Production Co: Blumhouse Productions, 3 Ring Circus Films
Rating: R (Sexuality|Language|Drug Use|Violent Images)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Jul 31, 2007
Runtime: 1h 34m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital