On the Count of Three is a bleakly comedic drama crafted out of a morbid and not outwardly humorous situation – which makes for a unique movie that will not easily be pigeonholed.
Val (Jerrod Charmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) are childhood friends who are struggling with their mental health. Each has a suicide attempt behind them and Val springs Kevin from a hospital stay with the idea that the two best friends can do one final thing for each other: take part in a suicide pact.
As the pair take stock of their last day, Kevin is motivated by an encounter with his high school bully, who belittles and humiliates him once more. Regretting their lack of action, the pair determine that there is no point in having a final day if they are just going to live it out like all the others. It prompts them to plan a bucket list agenda for their final hours, albeit one with much darker wish fulfilment than normal. Instead of skydiving and tourism, they favour debt collection and revenge.
For Val, this means having a difficult conversation with his girlfriend Natasha (Tiffany Haddish) and an attempt to square things with his deadbeat father (JB Smoove). For Kevin it means taking revenge against his childhood abuser, Dr Brenner (Henry Winkler).
Kevin and Val approach their final day from different perspectives. Kevin rages with a bitter, yet understandable anger against the people who victimised him and a system that is unable to help him. Val is resigned, almost deflated, and seeking a resolution he thinks will bring him peace. He walks out on his job and his monologue on why “quitting is amazing” is a particularly amusing highlight.
But their decision to die does not entirely allow them to act with the impunity they desire, and events get out of hand. Kevin’s frustration boils over as they try to resolve a petty convenience store grievance with a firearm which brings to mind the impotent white-collar rage of Michael Douglas in Falling Down.
Surprisingly, On the Count of Three is not as depressing as it sounds. In his directorial debut, Carmichael – perhaps better known as a standup comedian – balances a tone that is dark but also funny and sincere. The laughs do not offset or trivialise the themes but humanise them. We find humour not in the act of suicide but in Val and Kevin’s pragmatic approach to it.
Carmichael and Abbott (who both appeared in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things) are terrific and the entire story rests on the believability of their very authentic and relatable friendship. They spend much of the movie in cars together contemplating their next move, or comfortably joking as old friends do. “I’m not listening to Papa Roach on the day I’m gonna kill myself,” Val says, mocking Kevin’s music tastes, while Kevin confesses that he feels like a hypocrite for enjoying firing a weapon for the first time, considering all of the gun control content he has posted online. And it is interesting to see Winkler playing completely against type as Dr Brenner, his trademark joviality skewed to a sinister use here, masking the calculating intentions of a predator.
Crucially, On the Count of Three never feels exploitative or too sentimental. Instead, it handles a sensitive subject with humour and reality – which makes for a gripping, somewhat poignant and ultimately rewarding watch.
On the Count of Three is available to stream on Paramount+ in Australia and Amazon Prime in the UK. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
