‘On the Count of Three’ Trailer: Jerrod Carmichael’s Directorial Debut Is a Very Dark Buddy Comedy

Wilson Chapman
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One month after the release of his critically-acclaimed comedy special “Rothanial,” comedian and actor Jerrod Carmichael is looking to continue his hot streak with the release of his feature directorial debut, “On the Count of Three.”

Carmichael stars in the dark buddy comedy as Val, a clinically depressed slacker who botches a suicide attempt at the mulch plant he works at. After the event goes wrong, he and his childhood best friend Kevin (Christopher Abbott), who struggles with significant mental health issues of his own, make a suicide pact to kill each other by the end of the day. The film follows the two over the course of the day as they settle their affairs before death and attempt to enact revenge on the psychologist, Dr. Brenner (Henry Winkler), who traumatized Kevin as a child. Tiffany Haddish also stars in the film as Val’s girlfriend Natasha, while J.B Smoove plays his father Lyndell.

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“On the Count of Three,” first premiered in 2021 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received generally positive notices from critics. In his review, Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that the film “creates a mood, an edge, a space to explore the personalities it’s about. It’s a violent comedy of hopelessness that channels the go-nowhere spirit of these bleak times (and I don’t just mean the pandemic), when too many people are struggling in a dead zone of no prospects.”

“On the Count of Three” is the first of two upcoming films set to star Carmichael and Abbott. Both actors will also play supporting roles in Yorgos Lanthimos’ upcoming film “Poor Things,” based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. The movie stars Emma Stone as Belle Baxter, a woman who has her brain replaced with that of her unborn child in order to escape her abusive marriage. Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Mark Ruffalo and Margaret Qualley also star in the film, which does not yet have a release date.

“On the Count of Three” will premiere in theaters May 13. Watch the full trailer below.

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