The Darwin Awards
The movie opens with a shot of a man in a car with a JATO rocket strapped to it. The relevance of the opening is not explained for some time as the movie shifts gears to a detailed look into the life of Michael Burrows, a criminal profiler for the San Francisco Police Department. Much of the film is shot in a documentary style, ostensibly as a part of a dissertation by a film school grad that follows Michael through the movie. Fired from the force after his hemophobia lets a serial killer get away, he drifts about in a deep depression for several weeks before coming up with a way to combine his obsession with the Darwin Awards with his talent for profiling: Help insurance companies detect people that are likely to accidentally end their own lives before they are sold insurance policies. After impressing a manager at the insurance company with his talent for profiling, he's paired up with Siri, a specialist in strange insurance cases.
Siri and Michael travel the country investigating several legendary examples of stupidity on behalf of the insurance company, such as the above mentioned JATO rocket car, not all of which would qualify as 'Darwin Awards'. For example, a pair of men who are attempting to ice fish get frustrated and try to use a stick of dynamite to blast a hole in the ice only to have their trusty dog fetch the stick of dynamite, run back to their brand-new SUV, and sink it to the bottom of the lake without either man being killed. As they investigate those and other cases, Michael tries to find a common factor in these people; the closest the movie gets to an explanation is a confused monologue by Siri about insurance companies always denying claims and driving people insane.
Ironically, Michael narrowly avoids becoming a Darwin Award winner throughout the movie. In one instance, he and Siri are stranded out in the middle of nowhere on a cold winter night. Desperate for warmth, he attempts to set a fire with gasoline to get warm only to blow up his own car. In a later scene, Siri confronts Michael, accusing him of being so obsessed with the Darwin Award winners because he suspects he is one of them.
A twist of fate leads to Michael finding out where the murder suspect he let get away lives. As he attempts to videotape the man in his home by rappelling down the side of his building, the film school student is seen for the first time. He, too, is hanging on the side of the building by a rope- with the other end of the same rope Michael is dangling by. The stone vase the pair is anchored by inches closer to the edge as the serial killer taunts them from the roof, slicing open Siri's hand in an effort to trigger Michael's hemophobia. Michael is able to overcome his hemophobia, defeat the serial killer, and live happily ever after with Siri.
