Movie Review: The Life of Chuck

 Movie Number 33 of 2025

The Movie: The Life of Chuck

The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens

Runtime: One hour 51 minutes. 

Stars: 3.5

Some of the movies which have been made from Stephen King's fiction are phenomenal. I'm talking about The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and allegedly Stand by Me (which is on my to-be-seen list - I've never got around to it). And Stephen King is allegedly a fantastic writer again. I cannot pass judgement because I have never read him.

The Life of Chuck is not one of these films. It’s certainly not awful, but it isn’t up there with the best of the adaptations. The main reason for this is you'll be scratching your head with the film's structure. And it's a little bit predictable, though there are parts where you're pondering where this is all going. 

In Part One, you're introduced to the concept of Chuck Krantz early in the film, where in modern times, things are starting to unravel. Nick Offerman's narration takes you through the characters. Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is teaching his class when the internet goes out. The land is also being bombarded with advertisements thanking Chuck Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) for 39 years of service. Around town, Marty's ex-wife, Felicia (Karen Gillen) is watching as her world is disintegrating. And over a period of time, you work out that things aren't looking good. 

Part Two is when you meet adult Chuck for real. A 39-year-old account, the premise of the movie is gently explained. I won't go into it here. 

The third section looks into Chuck's childhood, his relationship with his Bubby (Mia Sara) and Grandfather, Albie (Mark Hamill) and introduces us to the choices Chuck made as a child, forgoing his love of dance for something far more sensible (yeah, Chuck's an accountant...). 

And while this is being advertised as being a life-affirming film, the film's fragmented structure is puzzling enough to be unsettling but is as subtle as a mortar cannon in its messaging. I can see that this is writer/director Mike Flanagan's passion project. Like most works from the heart, it strays into its own bum some of the time. 

However, there are a lot of redeeming features to the film, the first being the cinematography. This is a lovely film to watch. I enjoyed the small roles well-known actors of the 80's played - in particular, Mia Sara - who's now in her late 50s. She was wonderful as Chuck's grandmother. Mark Hamill is also in danger of being perennially cast as a grandfather figure - he was great too. 

For me, the one thing that would make me go and see this again was the dance scene in the second part, which Tom Hiddleston dances for a good ten minutes. It took me back to the musicals I used to watch on television on a Sunday afternoon - which is the point of all this. Doing what makes you happy is a good thing. Do it often before it's too late. 

I'd wait for this one to hit the streaming services. We've come to expect more from Stephen King adaptations, and though there are some good things about this, when you find that Tom Hiddleston's hips are the things you think about most, maybe it's not up there with the best examples of Stephen King films.  

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