Mike Flanagan has become sortof the go-to guy for Stephen King adaptations. There are plenty of others, obviously, but the best ones lately have been by Flanagan, The Life of Chuck being the third following Gerald’s Game and the excellent Doctor Sleep. Flanagan’s latest isn’t the typical King adaptation. It’s not a horror at all, and is a reminder that King could tug at your heartstrings with sweetness as much as scare the crap out of you. The Life of Chuck is also a reminder of how good and grounded Tom Hiddleston can be when separated from the Marvel machine.
The Life of Chuck is a three-act story told in reverse chronological order. In one of those quiet small towns that King loves so much, the film follows Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a lonely schoolteacher, and Felicia (Karen Gillan), an anxious, equally lonely nurse and Marty’s ex-wife. Both struggle to make life make sense as the world is undergoing an apocalyptic event. The Internet is gone (including PornHub, the true disaster!), many of America’s biggest cities are simply no more including all of California which has simply fallen into the ocean. As the planet crumbles around them, Felicia and Marty forget the problems they once had begin to reconnect, while all around them mysterious signs thanking an accountant named Chuck for his 39 years of great service begin to appear across the city and even in the sky.
So who is Chuck, anyway? And why does his life seem tied to this coming cataclysmic event? The next two chapters begin to unravel that mystery, and it’s also where Hiddleston comes in. Chuck seems like an ordinary guy, and, well, he is. That’s what’s initially so confusing about it. We discover that Chuck, aged 39, has an inoperable brain tumor with only a short time left to live. As he begins to reflect on his life and all of the people he’s met and places he’s been, Chuck also starts seeing the real beauty in the world. The centerpiece sequence offers Hiddleston, a born showman, to show off his dance moves as Chuck surprises himself by dancing with Janice (the lovely Annalise Basso, reuniting with Flanagan after Oculus) to a street drummer’s beats.
The Life of Chuck is a lovely little film, a melancholic crowd-pleaser that won the People’s Choice Award at TIFF. Melancholy and crowd-pleasing might sound antithetical, but that’s the delicate balance that King and Flanagan are walking here. The film is undeniably sad once you catch on to what’s happening and how it connects to Act 3. But for all of its gloom there are just as many moments of pure happiness. Such as the joy a young Chuck (played by Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak, and Cody Flanagan) gets learning how to dance with his grandmother, played by a returning Mia Sara in a nice nod to her Ferris Bueller’s Day Off heyday. There’s Chuck taking that knowledge and dancing with the most beautiful girl in school. There’s also Mark Hamill as Chuck’s depressed, alcoholic grandfather who teaches him the joy of numbers. The ensemble as a whole is fantastic and also a source of light in the film, with great performances given by Matthew Lillard, Kate Siegel, Carl Lumbly, David Dastmalchian, and A Nightmare on Elm Street vet Heather Langenkamp as a gossipy neighbor.
Horror fans wondering where the creepy stuff comes in will be disappointed. While it does take a turn towards the paranormal eventually, The Life of Chuck is mainly a poignant parable about living life for all that it’s worth, loving as much as humanly possible, and passing that joy around so that it lasts long after you’re gone.
The Life of Chuck is in select theaters now, and opens wide on June 13th via NEON.
