Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself review

The title's such a downer that many punters will be immediately put off from seeing Lone Scherfig's English-language follow-up to Dogme comedy Italian For Beginners. Don't be. Those who give it the benefit of the doubt will discover a wry, affecting yarn that deftly combines the director's Scandinavian sensibilities with an earthy Celtic humour.

Set in Glasgow (though largely shot in Denmark), it's the whimsical tale of two brothers - incorrigible optimist Harbour (Adrian Rawlins) and suicidal deadbeat Wilbur (Jamie Sives). Together they run a struggling bookshop, and together they fall for single mother Shirley Henderson...

Wilbur starts off well, the hero's eccentric nihilism initially recalling Harold And Maude, but hefty doses of emotional manipulation bend the end result closer to Hollywood weepy Marvin's Room. That said, it's nice to see a film about love that avoids the Hollywood clichés - and you have to admire a movie that finds laughs in slit wrists and pancreatic cancer.