The Life of Chuck Review (Second Opinion)
Life is all about rumination. At least for me. My days are filled with questions, thoughts, and anxieties. Trivial ones like, What do I wear? Should I buy this bread or that one? Should I say no? Should I say yes? Not so trivial ones, too: could that person I know die soon? Am I going to die soon? If someone had the answer, would I want to know? We’ve all thought about it: would seeing my life trickle away in an hourglass help? Would I take more risks? Do more with my time? Or, would the knowledge of my impending doom do little other than stifle me? The Life of Chuck has some answers. Allegedly.
Adapted from a 50-page novella of the same name by Stephen King, The Life of Chuck is director Mike Flanagan’s third King adaptation, and is a step away from the pair’s previous horror collaborations (Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game). Flanagan’s rendition charts the formative moments of the life of Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston), a seemingly ordinary accountant from Alabama, in the same way that the novel does: backwards, and separated into three titled ‘acts’. Seeing this well after its 2024 TIFF debut and release in the US in June of this year, I waltzed into Chuck’s world armed with high expectations, ready for a “life-affirming” spectacle akin to the warming, gut-punch qualities contained within some of my favourite put-to-screen King novels (see: The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption)
The story begins with Act Three, where we find Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan) struggling to face reality: the world as they know it, and the Earth that they’re standing on, is on the brink of total collapse and ruin. Natural disasters rage, governments are being overthrown, and, worst of all, the internet is down (gasp!). People are grateful, at least, for their one constant: Chuck, whose smile looms over the town on a series of congratulatory “39 years!” billboards like their very own Doctor T.J. Eckleberg. Or, they would be grateful if anyone actually knew who he was.
The Life of Chuck kicks off with a promising, albeit unnecessarily puzzling start, largely carried by quips of dark humour and a charming performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor. From here, the film whirs back in time. We’re supposed to know Chuck a little better, dropping into parts of his adult life and then his childhood, led by the assured narration of Nick Offerman. Flanagan takes us on a journey of life, death, love and loss, and it certainly has some lovely moments. But it never quite reaches the heights of its promised spectacle.
The Life of Chuck is puzzling. Some of this is intentional. The non-linear structure forces you to find (and remember) the missing pieces as the story rolls, which is a set-up that could work in theory, but is hindered by clunky execution. Between the mysterious Chuck billboards of Act Three and the supposedly haunted yet ever-tempting attic of Act One, the storytelling teases a grand, earth-shattering reveal that never fully materialises. There is a twist, sure, but despite weaving through a narrative that’s all about Chuck, we don’t spend much meaningful time with the character. We learn he’s an accountant, and that he likes to dance because his grandmother taught him. We even learn his fate. But the unconventional narrative leaves gaps in his story that make it hard to really latch on and care. When the ‘twist’ comes and Chuck’s fate is revealed, it feels more like an ‘oh?’ moment, rather than an ‘ah!’ moment.
Hiddleston does well in his brief moments as the titular character, even if he (and his dance sequence) are outshined by 6th-grade Chuck, played by the talented Benjamin Pajak, who brings touches of magic to the coming-of-age tale of Act One, amongst big names like Mark Hamill and Mia Sara. But this is swallowed up by sentiments that are obviously intended to say something about the meaning of life, but teeters on an edge that is closer to cringe than profound. It insists that we feel something, but veers in too many directions to ever let us feel anything. The Life of Chuck takes too long to get where it’s really going, and doesn’t convey its true message (‘Live life to the full’, I guess) with enough conviction. And hey, maybe I’m just too introspective already, but a successful rendition of this premise should have left me pondering my own life. By the end of this one, I was irritated by the time I spent trying to figure out what was going on.
The Life of Chuck is akin to a jigsaw puzzle that you might expect to find forgotten at the bottom of a drawer in Stephen King’s house; it lures you with its promising cover, but when you open the lid, it has some missing pieces.
★★★
In UK cinemas 20th August / Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jacob Tremblay, Matthew Lillard, Mia Sara, Benjamin Pajak, Trinity Bliss/ Dir: Mike Flanagan / Studio Canal / 15
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