A Long Way Down

A Long Way Down

The frustrating “A Long Way Down” contains moments of tenderness and honest human emotion but it makes you do too much work and give too much credit to the overqualified cast to get at them. Adapted from a Nick Hornby bestseller (“High Fidelity,” “About a Boy”) that was so mawkish the movie took nearly 10 years to get made even though the ‘00s were all about Hornby, “A Long Way Down” is an example of over direction if ever there was one: Characters laugh too hard; Dario Marianelli’s score vacillates between wispy guitar strumming and heartstring-pulling piano tinkling; at one point, the suicidal characters literally dance to “I Will Survive.” You get it. Honest emotion falls victim to poor filmmaking yet again.

Martin Sharp (Pierce Brosnan) wants to kill himself on New Year’s Eve. Once wildly popular, he has fallen from grace after a sex scandal with an underage girl ruined his family he doesn’t see why he should go on if he can’t be famous anymore. So he climbs up to the roof of the Toppers Building, a notorious suicide spot so popular someone actually sets up shop next door selling sandwiches and hot drinks; such is supply and demand in London on Dec. 31.

It’s so notoriously packed that Martin runs into three other people this frosty evening who also want to jump off it before midnight: Maureen (Toni Collette), who has severely disabled son; Jess (Imogen Poots), whose boyfriend broke her heart right before Christmas; and J.J.(Aaron Paul), who tells his new mates that he has brain cancer. They agree not to kill themselves until Valentine’s Day rolls around, keeping tabs on each other over the next month and a half as they form their own unique support group for people who want to die.

However, when the “Topper House Four” is outed in the press, they become semi famous for being losers who couldn’t even succeed at offing themselves. (Jess’ dad is a famous politician, making her bait for tabloids.) To escape the attention, they jet off to a resort, frolic in the surf, grow closer, learn the meaning of life, get a tan, etc.

“A Long Way Down,” though, is a film that’s afraid of its subject matter: suicidal depression. One never feels any actual danger or urgency in these characters’ fight against their demons before they kill them; there’s no sense that these people might actually end their lives so it drains the piece of drama their depression is merely a plot device. J.J. was once the frontman for a band called Gepetto (rhymes with Geppetto), and he laughs about one of his hackneyed lines during karaoke at a New Year’s party where he first meets Martin: “I don’t mind the pain, it’s the hope that kills me.”

Writer Jack Thorne and director Pascal Chaumeil present this line as just another bit of humor about an uncool grunge band that never was but it sums up what goes wrong with the movie. The movie never minds the pain. It doesn’t pay attention to it. We don’t feel it. Well, most of the time; Collette always does find a way to make things hit most of their beats.

To be equitable, Poots is pretty good here too, but both actresses are burdened by a director who didn’t have faith in them. Jess singing the BeeGees’ “Tragedy” on her bed should be done with a wink, not underlined by a treacly score. When the foursome realizes they’ve written their non suicide pact on the back of Maureen’s suicide note, the actors have been directed to laugh at it in an exaggerated, over the top way. It sounds like nit picking, I know, but “A Long Way Down” never registers emotionally because it’s always telling you that it’s a movie. And not a very good one.

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