"this is a film that appeals to a select niche and will be review-driven." The film would end up making only $46,362 against a budget of $4 million, following its release on June 20, 1997. It was intended to be released earlier in June, but was pushed to later in the month, as to avoid competition with Con Air and Speed 2: Cruise Control. A month prior to the release, director Stephen Kay commented in an interview that "the film was going to be released June 6, the day the potential blockbusters Con Air and Speed 2 are opening. I said, 'Do it! We'll just run an ad campaign that says, "The movie that Keanu Reeves did instead of Speed 2!"' But the distributors panicked...They decided the big monsters would gobble us up and backed off." Reeves at the time criticized the summer release date. He remarked "I think they've really picked a good time to bring this out--in the summer against Batman & Robin. [Laughs.] Stephen Kay and I both feel it should have come out in the fall, that it's a real fall picture. Know what I mean? It's 50 degrees in New York, you want to go see a picture. The Last Time I Committed Suicide, Neal Cassady...why not?." The film was subsequently released onto home media, and in its true aspect ratio, having originally been matted for theaters during 1997. On September 13, 2005, it was re-released onto DVD by Universal. The rights to the film are currently held by Multicom Entertainment, who purchased the library of producer Kushner-Locke in 2013. Multicom have since released it to streaming service Amazon Prime. On July 6, 2021, it will be released to blu-ray for the first time by MVD Entertainment Group. Reception The Last Time I Committed Suicide received mixed to positive reviews upon its release. In a review published on June 20, 1997, Stephen Holden of The New York Times praised the film's cinematography, writing, "Almost every shot is drenched in rich period detail so acute it has a surreal edge. When Cassady visits an office where one of his girlfriends works as a typist, the place is a hushed dimly lit cathedral to capitalism in which elaborately coiffed secretaries sit in rigid formation behind giant manual typewriters. Later, when Cassady and some friends steal a bright red convertible for a joy ride, the image of the