"Wilbur" is a film about a man that has basically lost all will to live hence the title, but not only does he wish to stop living, he always wishes to stop living his own life and is basically a sour, bitter, mean-spirited man that blurts things to people from every which way that could be deemed as utterly cruel, but it's just Wilbur pleading his own case for refusing to live his life. James Sivies is great as Wilbur, the awfully mean and many times obnoxious Wilbur whose only sole attachment in the world is his brother who watches him all the time. Regardless of how much his brother loves him, it doesn't stop him from attempting to kill himself as is witnessed by the intense and somewhat nauseating opening sequence when we watch Wilbur guzzle pills, and attempt to off himself in one of many failed attempts. "Wilbur" is often times a sad human dramedy about the meaning of life and what makes a happy life for us.

Many times Wilbur is pretty despicable, mocking patients at suicide therapy and treating everyone with a sense of cruelty, but in the end, Wilbur is more of a giant punch line. He's attempting to kill himself throughout the entire movie, but he can't quite pull it off. It's almost like that Seinfeld line "You know you're a failure when you can't properly kill yourself", and the many attempts by Wilbur are not only suspenseful but inadvertently funny. You know eventually he's going to pull it off, but you just won't know when, and that's what makes much of the movie so funny. Because the situations involving the attempted suicides are so brutal they're funny, and you're never sure if you should be laughing, because you're there wondering if this is it for him. It's funny because it's sad, and it's sad because it's funny.

But on the flipside this can tend to be sweet, and you can tell Wilbur has a lot of love from his only living relative, his older brother Harbour (played by the sweet Adrian Rawlins) who is more of a stable person from beginning to end and helps Wilbur learn how to appreciate life once Alice and Mary enter the scene bringing a sense of happiness in their lives while we witness them experiencing such happiness from an obviously deprived life, and Wilbur is given some sense of fulfillment and we witness a remarkable change, but we're never sure if his suicidal tendencies ever diminish.

"Wilbur" is a film that suffers an immense identity crises which immensely hindered my enjoyment for this. While the first half is about human drama and the knack for human comedy, there's the second half which really shows that the writer doesn't know what he wants from the movie. Because, in the end, "Wilbur" is a movie that is never sure if it wants to be a comedy or a drama, so we're constantly tugged back and forth between genres and moods. There were times when this movie went in to a complete dramatic phase with genuine dramatic moments that were many times going over the edge of manipulative melodrama, and then there were times that were honestly funny, but I don't like to be jerked around, and I don't like to be given one thought and completely have the rug swept out from under me.

The second half is so utterly depressing and melodramatic that I found myself cringing in many scenes including the utterly pointless and ridiculous climax that was not only extremely stupid, but completely sloppy. I mean when a movie changes modes from dramedy to complete drama, it's pretty aggravating because you're set on a range of moments where you're laughing and suddenly the laughs stop, and I'm sitting there waiting for the moment when I can laugh again. And there's that two movie syndrome all over again. The first half of this movie is this bittersweet and funny movie where a man learns how to live again, and then there's the second half which is manipulative melodramatic drivel where convenient plot devices arise, and there are just excruciating moments that I wish would have reverted to a comedic tone but nothing ever happens. It was sad and extremely disappointing for a movie I was hoping would be more tragicomedy than just tragic.

"Wilbur" was broken down in to two halves essentially; one half was funny, and sweet, and interesting and heavily based on character emphases, while the second half is dim, depressing, and incredibly manipulative, so for the first half "Wilbur" is a very good film.

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