This film takes one good character, one good performance and some vaguely amusing banter and buries it under an avalanche of moral obtuseness, male wish fulfillment and bizarrely incompetent writing. Writer/director Geoffrey Haley somehow came up with an outlandish premise that was rich in potential for dark comedy and satire, but demonstrates in the making of this movie that he didn't have the emotional or intellectual depth to do a damn thing with it.Evan (Wes Bentley) is a young writer in Los Angeles who makes a living writing for a particular sort of special occasion. He composes suicide notes for other people. People contact Evan through his website, he learns about their lives and then composes beautifully poetic final messages for them. Only about 30% of Evan's clients actually off themselves, but that's besides the point. This is a morally reprehensible thing to do. It's inviting people at the lowest point in their lives to come to you and then treating them with something worse than indifference. It's not just standing on the shore and watching someone else drown. It's standing on the shore, watching someone else drown and yelling out as they go under for the third time "Is there anything you want me to tell your mom after you're gone?"It's a horrible act and Evan is completely oblivious to how horrible it is, which makes him an even more horrible person…but that's okay. A person with such a stunted and disconnected nature could be a very interesting character. The problem is that the story is oblivious to the awfulness of Evan's actions. There's not a moment in this film where there's any sense given that there's anything wrong with what Evan is doing, except that other people might disapprove. Not only is that offensive, but such profound moral ignorance is boring.The stuff that happens to Evan starts when he attends the funeral of one of his clients to hear if the suicide note is read aloud, so Evan can critique his own work. His dead client's sister, Charlotte (Winona Ryder), notices him and here's where the male wish fulfillment comes in. Evan is dull as dishwater, lacking in any social graces and seems not just disinterested but annoyed at Charlotte's attention. Yet, this lovely, sexy, smart and vulnerable woman continues to throw herself at Evan until he deigns to have sex with her and become her boyfriend. It's every lonely nerd's ultimate fantasy. A hot chick falls in love with him and he doesn't even have to alter his pathetic personality.What's especially frustrating is that Charlotte is a very well written character and Winona Ryder does a fine acting job. There's a dramatic and emotional integrity to Charlotte. She's not just a pawn that gets moved around the plot to service Evan's story. She has reasons for what she does, she's aware of those reasons but she's not controlled by them. There are several points in the movie where Charlotte does the exact opposite of what you usually see from the "girlfriend role" and it's a little thrilling when it happens. For her part, Ryder is more than up to the demands of this role. She really captures the uneasy swirl of strength and weakness, confidence and desperation, self-awareness and self-deception a woman would have to have to be attracted to a guy like Evan. It also helps a lot that Ryder's physical attractiveness here as a grown woman equals all of the sublime cuteness of her youth.There's also a few laughs to be hand from the interaction of Evan and Abel (Ray Romano), a misanthropic client who insists on hanging out and talking with Evan like they were friends. Abel's not much more than a collection of funny lines of dialog and, again, there's no lesson or real point to their relationship because the story persists in denying the appalling essence of what Evan is doing for Abel.You can probably guess that Charlotte eventually learns that Evan wrote her brother's suicide note, imperiling their relationship, and that easy-to-predict point is where the film implodes from the pressure of fundamentally flawed writing. After Charlotte finds out what he did and is rightfully repulsed, Evan tries to redeem himself to her and the audience by explaining that her brother had advanced cancer, was in serious pain and only wanted to be at peace. That's supposed to at least partly ennoble Evan in the eyes of Charlotte and the viewer. It doesn't do that at all, for two very simple reasons.1. Evan spends their entire relationship lying to Charlotte. So, when he says Charlotte's brother had cancer, the first reaction from both Charlotte and the audience should be that it's just another lie. That very logical and reasonable response clearly never occurred to writer/director Geoffrey Haley. Not only does Charlotte never question it, but Haley never offers up any evidence to her or the audience that Evan is telling the truth. 2. If Evan is telling the truth, it only magnifies what a disgusting person he is. In the story, Charlotte is really torn up over her brother's death. Yet even though Evan is confronted with the human trauma enabled by his passive acquiescence to suicide, he still doesn't realize the horror that he's part of. Evan (and obviously Haley) thinks that because Charlotte's brother killed himself for a supposedly good reason, it somehow justifies what Evan does.I don't know what to make of this film. One aspect of it is very good, but the rest of it is so bad that I can't really believe that one filmmaker is responsible for it all. It's like trying to comprehend how George Lucas could create both Darth Vader and Jar Jar Binks. Tragically, The Last Word is mostly Jar Jar…and does anyone need to be told not to watch more Jar Jar?

Caution: spoilers ahead. This is a spoilered review, so be warned.The film starts out as original, even bold. The character of Evan is very well fleshed and sympathetic (at least from my standpoint). The premise is quite believable, with a certain slightly decadent/slightly post-modern charm, and definite intelligence.However, once the drama begins to unfold, the movie's charm slips away, while the gaping maw of Hollywood threadbare *romantic* morality looms into view. And promptly eats the main character.As it turns out, writing beautiful poetry or prose for someone's grand exit out of life is a shameful sin. Only depressed people with the obligatory abused childhood may contemplate doing this for a living. And that these people must be punished, and corrected in their ways.Charlotte (Winona Ryder) was deeply estranged from her brother, they haven't seen each other or talked for a long time, and she wasn't there for him when he chose to commit suicide. On his funeral, she spots Evan, the professional death note writer (accomplished, too, - as we're told, one of his notes won a writing award) and chases him relentlessly, ignoring his uncertainty and basically throwing herself at him. When Evan finally submits to her *charms* (after having been cornered on a roof, no less), the situation changes dramatically. Evan eventually becomes truly enamored with Charlotta, while she begins to demand total knowledge of his life. Out of completely misplaced chivalry (the usual plothole of Hollywood romances, and a definite hint at the travesties to come), Evan chooses to hide his occupation, in pointless hopes of avoiding the very questionable risk of causing psychological discomfort to his lover.Needless to say, Charlotte finds out, and of course, like in all those B-grade low-brow romances, she immediately throws her "love" towards Evan overboard under the double pretext of "deceiving" her and being a soulless jerk who dares to ornament people's deaths in beautiful poetry. At this point one might wonder why the work of the common undertaker or grave monument sculptor is not being so stigmatised, but someone writing "death notes" should be perceived as a deviant. Moreover, history knows plenty of brilliant poets that were obsessed with death to a certain degree (Poe, Baudelaire and Rimbaud to name but a few), and no one dares to label them soulless or uncaring.The crushed Evan is not allowed such blasphemous thoughts, however. After a pathetic encounter with a mugger, where Evan's emasculation is finalised (he cries like a child and says his sorry for hitting the mugger back after the bastard pistol-whipped him), he dutifully abandons writing, leaves town, and engages in a pointless, stupid Luddite-like business of letting raging morons throw electronic equipment that baffles their tiny minds off a cliff, while filming this ordeal. This final scene may very well be seen as a meta-comment on the movie itself, which abandons an intelligent and promising premise in favor of filming the pointless rage of a moronic woman and the damage it caused to a sophisticated piece of equipment that was the protagonist.All in all, while amusing (from an academic standpoint), it was really sad to watch. It sends a deeply flawed message. This movie and others like it have a lot in common with older, male chauvinist "taming of the shrew" scenarios, only with the roles reversed. It's quite shocking in this day and age to see such primal, degenerate values at work. I feel particularly sad for Winona's participation as in the past she played characters similar to Evan but from a female perspective, and usually managed to maintain the integrity of these characters. Too bad she didn't recognise this movie for what it really is - a low-grade "romance" replete with false morals, masquerading as something thoughtful and stylish.However, once you realise all this, you can appreciate the movie from a different angle - that of Fatum in the hands of moralising authors against the protagonist struggling to maintain his integrity. Like any Greek tragedy, this one ends tragically. I gave this movie an 8 due to the following: 1) good premise; 2) Wes Bentley is very good as Evan; 3) the movie may be appreciated on a different philosophical level once you come to grips with its skewed morality; 4) baby-scaring therapy was hilarious; 5) I adore Winona Ryder. If you have any comments on this review, feel free to check out the message board where I've posted a more erratic & angry version for discussion.

This is a very strange movie about a guy...a very strange guy...who makes his living as a freelance writer of suicide notes for other people. Very dark most of the time with bizarre bits of comedy thrown in thanks to the presence of Ray Romano of all people (Everybody Loves Suicide, I guess). Although you think he'll only be around for a walk on (and kill off) he's around for most of the film and really makes the picture with his deadpan delivery of some wacky but very funny lines that are all the funnier because of the bleakness of the film surrounding them and the context plus his delivery. Romano is a human Eeyore and this film is a perfect foil for him.One joke is very vulgar but (I'm ashamed to admit) I found it very funny, thus the R rating, but most of it is probably from a liberal use of the "F" bomb.Very unsettling, very odd, and all the more surreal because it's also very funny. Worth watching for the (to me) surprise ending alone. Which is appropriate as a last word for this film.

This film was written & directed by Geoffrey Haley.I must commend him for creating 3 fine main characters & casting the right actors in each role.This is a somewhat sad & depressing movie, with very little humor. Somehow it actually works, I watched with keen interest the quirky goings on. Winona Ryder, who has having career other real life problems is back & she is just great, I do hope she continues getting more important roles.Wes Bently who started out like a ball of fire in American Beauty, then had trouble finding decent roles is equally good. He is a fine actor & deserves good roles, more like this.Ray Romano in a dramatic role (for a change) proves that he an do more the the comedy roles he does on TV>These 3 & the remaining cast members make you pay attention & listen.There is only one action scene towards the end it helps us understand a puzzling plot point.this is not a major film by any means, rent it & see it, I think you may like it like I did.Ratings: *** (out of 4) 82 points(out of 100) IMDb 7 (out of 10)