Welcome back to another issue of Your Movie Mage, where I discuss underrated movies across genres. Last week, we discussed the better known, “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” and this week we’ll be talking about the low budget and depressing movie, “On the Count of Three.” Content warning: discussion of suicide.
“On the Count of Three” is Jerrod Carmichael’s directorial debut and follows best friends, Kevin (played by Christopher Abbott) and Val (played by Carmichael), who spend the film experiencing their last day before ending their lives together.
Val began the movie with a semi-suicide attempt, seemingly from a lack of interest in his life and job. Kevin began the movie in the hospital after a suicide attempt. Kevin is representative of someone who’s struggled their whole life with mental illness; he’s clearly deeply troubled but has learned to cope with humor and a general lack of seriousness. It becomes very clear that he doesn’t value his life in the way he approaches his interactions and makes decisions, though he values the life of his best friend.
Although more stoic than Kevin, Val shows a resilience and care for him. Despite the pact to mutually end their lives being Val’s idea, he questions his actions more carefully across the movie ,and his character buildup suggests he wants to live. The attention paid to these two characters is amazing and was clearly very well thought out.
The movie deals with a serious subject matter and handles it delicately, while also feeling realistic. Carmichael did an amazing job of balancing the pure darkness of this movie with realistic comedic moments and a heartwarming but gut-wrenching ending.
It isn’t easy to make movies that deal with suicidal ideation, especially with comedic undertones, but this movie does an amazing job. The film made a distinction between two forms of suicidal ideation. One of the men was in a difficult spot in life and had a difficult childhood. The other man only ever knew struggle and, no matter the circumstances in his life, he was miserable. I hadn’t seen this distinction made in a film before and it’s an interesting thing to tackle.
The ending of a movie is very important, and I remember being very concerned about what the ending would be on my first watch. However, they managed to show the most realistic ending. It is heartbreaking, but clearly inevitable and far more realistic than an overly postive or negative ending. They didn’t frame Kevin’s story as a good solution, but rather as inevitable given his character, his childhood and life overall.
The movie also did a great job of showing the relationship between two best friends. There’s a genuine love between the two main characters, along with annoyance at times. Their respective arcs and nuanced beliefs add so much to the characters and their friendship.
The acting in this movie can’t be overstated. Abbott played a complex character by shielding his pain with comedy and a lack of seriousness. The delivery of all of his lines was perfect, and I couldn’t imagine the character being played any better. He brought most of the comedy to the movie, mostly in the unique ways he delivered his lines.
This movie is very depressing and deals with difficult subject matter, but it’s an amazing movie and incredibly underrated. As a directorial debut, it’s even more impressive, considering its low budget and limited locations and actors. This movie is greatly underappreciated, whether it’s because of its pandemic release or because it may not appeal to the masses. I give “On the Count of Three” and underratedness score of 4/5. It has good reviews, but I haven’t met many people who had heard of it or seen it.