Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (Lone Scherfig, 2002)

Lone Scherfig has made decent nuanced films, most notably An Education, but this story of a big-hearted bookshop owner trying to thwart his younger brother's repeated attempts to cash in his chips is less sure of itself. This is largely because it wants to have its cake and eat it, trying to work as both black comedy and serious drama. There are several problems with this, not least in the personage of Wilbur, who we are somehow supposed to find charming for all his immature selfishness, and also accept that it's ok and even charitable to start copping off with your sister-in-law when your brother develops a terminal illness. It's tempered by a certain sweetness, but the taste of the film is still questionable.

5/10