'On the Count of Three' is an action comedy that follows two friends, Val and Kevin, over the course of a day. After being admitted to a psychiatric ward, Val visits with Kevin to break him out with a proposition that’s due to change both of their lives.
On a run-of-the-mill day at work, Val is offered a promotion. After speaking to his superior, Val tries to commit suicide in the employee bathroom, but is unable to go through with it after his annoying co-worker enters. After quitting, Val goes to Kevin at the hospital where he has been admitted following a suicide attempt. After the two break out, Val proposes the two commit a double-suicide. Kevin agrees, but demands the two enjoy their final day.
The two head for breakfast where Kevin is met by a former bully. Enraged, Kevin is prompted to take revenge on his former child psychiatrist, Dr. Brenner, who molested him. Learning that he’s not due at his office later that day, the two go to a gun range for practice, enjoy a dirt-bike race and end up holding a gas-station at gunpoint to purchase medical supplied to tend to Val’s injury sustained falling from the bike during their race.
Resolute to confront his father, Val and Kevin head to his shop, where instead of mending fences, Val demands the money his father took from him, resulting in Kevin knocking him out with a tire-iron. Thereafter, set on putting things right, Val goes to Natasha – his girlfriend that he’s been avoiding ever since he started considering suicide. Nat tells him she’s pregnant, forcing him to reassess his choices. At the same time, Kevin drives off to take down his bully, but does not go through with it as he sees him with his family and focuses on taking down Dr. Brenner.
At the psychiatrists office, Kevin goes to confront the doctor alone, as Val tells him he’s changed his mind. After confronting Brenner, Kevin tries to shot him, but forgets to take the safety off, with Brenner taking hold of the gun. Going after Kevin, Val sees Brenner pointing the gun at Kevin and shoots him. On the run, the police close in on the two and after a brief chase on foot, Kevin and Val share a final stand-off, with Val telling Kevin he has to be there as a father. Kevin says Val can pin Brenner’s death on him and shoots himself in the head. The film closes on Val at a correctional facility on father’s day with Nat and his little daughter.
‘On the Count of Three’, besides its deeper examination of various political and psychological topics, works as a buddy comedy. From the first moments together on screen, Kevin and Val establish a strong and lived-in feel to their relationship, sharing a level of familiarity that puts the viewer at ease, allowing us to follow their exploits without putting on airs and just enjoy their genuine and uninhibited exchanges, being able to take everything they say at face value, without dwelling on if anything that they’ve put out there has a double meaning or ulterior intentions.
The film shines as the two friends live through a tumultuous day, pulling each other along by jumping from one activity to the next, each with a varying degree of intensity. Jerrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott, portraying Val and Kevin respectively, clearly have excellent chemistry, and the two actors go all in on showcasing a fundamental understanding of each others objectives and emotions.
Throughout, the film manages to pepper in liberal-leaning views on gun ownership and the Second Amendment rights in the US. Without sounding preachy or sanctimonious, the film addresses the ridiculousness of being able to walk around with a deadly weapon, whilst at the same time exploring the secondary attributes and impression that boasting about with a gun has on their owner, allowing the viewers to explore the possibility of it being fun. Ultimately, the weapons are used to kill people, effectively shifting the focus of the feature to concentrate on the absolute purpose of weapons, delivering the abhorrent results that their use delivers with an unapologetic and resounding warning for their safe use.
The film feels like a deeply personal examination of trying to find the purpose behind the everyday grind, to have some semblance of a reason to go on. For Kevin, the journey is fraught with despair, as he’s revealed to have attempted to take his life on multiple occasions, seemingly starting as an adolescent, exacerbated by being molested by his therapist. Reaching the decision to consider suicide, Val gets there by considering his current way of life – seemingly with no purpose, in a dead-end job and scared to commit to a relationship through fear of monotony. Val’s mind is changed after finding out he’ll become a father. The film further explores this by how the sense of responsibility effectively denies Val the option to consider taking his own life, yet ultimately showing him happy when together with his daughter.
‘On the Count of Three’ works; - it’s fantastic as a buddy comedy and surprisingly insightful about the difficulties that many may face. Ultimately, the film highlights that friends and family are the things that make it all worth while, encouraging anyone out there that may be struggling to seek out and try to find joy through that. An excellent directorial debut from Jerrod Carmichael, the film is exciting, funny and surprisingly sincere.
Score: 4/4
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