'Out for Deliery' Delivers Laughs that Cut Deep. SXSW wrapup
There's some dark humor to be had here, and I like it. Out for Delivery is a comedy about suicide—something that the late great George Carlin would love. The film examines euthanasia with a realistic lens. OFD isn't bonkers funny; it's realistic in its comedy. It's people reacting to real-life situations believably. For a short film, the movie has a lot to say without drawing its audience in misery. It's subtle, handling such heavy subject material with care. The structure splits the narrative film into three halves. The second half is where the picture gets a little too comical for a couple of its jokes but it's only for a couple small moments. The third is the most personal part of the film.
Out for Delivery is a short about a woman who's facing the end of her life. To deal with her death, she opts to purchase a pill that will put her out of her misery. Joanna (Deanna Rooney) is terminally ill, suffering from organ failure. She could continue with her life, trying to stay alive through the pain, but she chooses to end it all. There are hints that Joanna might be leading a lonely life. She lives in a tiny apartment, and we hear nothing about her family from her. Suppose her life is that lonely; why couldn't Joanna find someone to fall in love with? Perhaps she went through a messy divorce that's turned her off from having relationships. Out for Delivery raises a lot of questions. What if your life is unfulfilled? Who's to say someone doesn't have a choice if they want to commit suicide? When does life stop producing joy, leaving us only with disappointment?
Early in the picture, we get the impression that this movie is going to be a comedy. As Joanna looks out her window in one scene to see if her package is ready, the rising music cuts abruptly when the back of the delivery van's truck closes that might contain her pills. It plays like a womp-womp moment. It turns out that Joanna's package containing her suicide pills has gone missing. Luckily, Joanna tracks it down to her neighbor's house. The neighbor wants to save her life as he notices the "life or death" label on the box. Instead of letting the neighbor lecture her, she yanks the package from his hand as he goes from "I want to help you" to "You will go to hell!" If Joanna is going to hell, she's about to arrive there pretty soon.
The heart of the story comes when Joanna hires a delivery guy to pick up her corpse after her pills take effect. Mark's (Martin Starr) occupation isn't clear. Is he an ambulance driver? If so, why doesn't his van have a siren or flashing lights? It's just a regular white van. Yet Mark carries a gurney with him. A friendly relationship develops between the two. Mark doesn't try to convince Joanna not to take the pills. He even grows impatient with Joanna as her pills would take some time to kick in before he can put her on the gurney.
The movie bases most of its messaging on the similarities between Joanna and Mark. During one conversation both characters are talking about their parents. Losing them is like losing a part of yourself. What if you lost your entire family? At a certain age they all begin to rapidly go. Without them, we need a network of friends to keep us going every day. There are reasons people build their own families. To be single during your final days makes dying worse.
Joanna is depicted as a character who has nothing left to lose. Suicide is her choice; why stop her? Some people have reasons to end their life. If they're in constant horrible pain, if they lost everything with no chance of rebuilding it or atoning for their sins that are so horrible, death may be the only option for them. Suicide should absolutely be prevented, but sometimes it's a warranted choice. We don't know everything about Joanna's life, but we don't need to. We get the idea from her living situation to her not contacting any family in the picture, where she's at socially. Out for Delivery delivers on the laughs and the emotions while cutting deep on our short mortality.
Out for Delivery played at SXSW as part of their shorts program https://schedule.sxsw.com/2025/films/2206031
