Despite being offered a promotion, depressed mulch factory worker Val tries to kill himself in a toilet stall at work, but stops when his annoying co-worker enters the restroom singing "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" to himself. Val breaks up with his girlfriend, Natasha, and quits his job, then helps his best friend Kevin escape from the psychiatric hospital in which he was placed three days earlier.
Val tells Kevin that suicide is the answer despite what people are taught, and the two make a pact to simultaneously shoot each other in the face. Kevin panics and smacks Val's hand away when Val pulls the trigger, then convinces Val that they should make the most of their last day of life.
Kevin and Val decide to kill Dr. Brenner–a child psychiatrist who molested Kevin–and then themselves. Val tries to teach Kevin how to shoot at a gun range. To pass time before Brenner arrives at his office, Val and Kevin ride dirt bikes at a motorcycle park owned by their friend Donny, until Val falls off his bike and cuts his leg. They drive around town instead, encountering several people that include a rude gas station attendant, a childhood bully, and Val's father Lyndell.
Val tells Kevin that Natasha is pregnant. Val goes to a jewelry store where he'd bought a wedding ring for Natasha and returns it for cash, then visits Natasha and tries to give her the money, but she criticizes him and encourages him to see a therapist.
Kevin drives to Dr. Brenner's office. In the car, a now-contemplative Val tells Kevin that he does not want to die and that he is glad he saw the whole day through. Kevin leaves to confront Brenner alone. Outside Brenner's office, Kevin forces Brenner to get on his knees and tries to shoot him, but forgets to take the safety off. Brenner hits Kevin and takes the gun away from him. Val sees Brenner waving the gun at an injured Kevin; mistakenly thinking Brenner is about to kill Kevin, he shoots Brenner in the head.
Val and Kevin flee the scene, pursued by police. Kevin tries to convince Val that suicide is still the answer to their problems, but Val does not change his mind about living. Kevin relents and tells Val to pin Brenner's murder on him, then shoots himself. A few years later, Val receives a Father's Day visit in prison from Natasha and their daughter. The camera moves out slowly showing a room full of other families.
In the United States and Canada, the film earned $36,822 from 19 theaters in its opening weekend.[7] It ultimately grossed between $62,131 and $62,155 at the worldwide box office.[8][9]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 118 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "It's occasionally uneven, but On the Count of Three finds director/star Jerrod Carmichael attempting an ambitious blend of drama and dark comedy—and often succeeding."[10]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[11]
David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film an A− and wrote, "Like a game of Russian roulette, this is a movie that would have seemed embarrassingly stupid if things had gone wrong. It's a dangerous and somehow enjoyable movie that dances around the edge of an open wound from start to finish as it risks making light of the heaviest things that so many of its viewers will ever have to carry. But it's exhilarating—a little at first, and then a hell of a lot—to see these characters find the kind of happiness worth dying for."[12] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars and said, "While it's ultimately a little too messy to work quite as well as it could have, given the interesting and ambitious ingredients, On the Count of Three is proof that Carmichael is a director to be excited about, hoping that perhaps he finds time to write his next script himself."[13]
