Jerrod Carmichael steps behind the camera for the first time with On the Count of Three, a 2022 dark comedy that opens on a pact between two friends and complicates it with every hour that follows.
What is On the Count of Three about?
Val (Christopher Abbott) and Kevin (Jerrod Carmichael) have decided that today is their last day together, and they set out to tie up loose ends before the sun goes down. What starts as a grim errand list turns into something closer to a road trip, as old grudges, unfinished business, and a handful of confrontations pull the two friends in directions neither expected. Tiffany Haddish, Lavell Crawford, JB Smoove, and Henry Winkler round out a supporting cast that keeps colliding with Val and Kevin's plans, and the film uses that friction to ask what these two actually owe each other after years of friendship. The tone swings hard between comedy and something much heavier, often within the same scene, and the film never lets the audience settle into either register for long.
About the cast
Carmichael and Abbott carry the film as its two leads, playing off a shorthand that reads like a friendship worn in over years. Tiffany Haddish and Henry Winkler appear in smaller roles that punctuate the day rather than steer it, and JB Smoove and Lavell Crawford add texture to the margins. The ensemble is built around reaction more than confrontation — most of the film's weight sits on how Val and Kevin respond to each other, scene by scene.
Context & significance
On the Count of Three marks Carmichael's feature directorial debut, arriving after his run as a stand-up comedian and television lead. The film drew notice for how bluntly it handles its subject matter without losing its sense of humor, a balance that comedy-drama hybrids rarely pull off. Shot in the United States and released in 2022, it sits in a small lineage of films that use a ticking-clock structure to force two characters to say things they have been avoiding for years. At 86 minutes, it moves briskly, favoring momentum over pause.
Watching On the Count of Three on Ktime
On the Count of Three streams on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so it's available to watch in Farsi or with the original English track carried alongside Farsi subtitles. The film's page is free to read without logging in; watching it requires a K-Time account, and the interface itself runs in Farsi throughout, built for viewers who want an English-language film to feel at home in their own language.