Summary:
A young woman decides to make a change in her life by training for the New York City Marathon.
My Thoughts:
“Brittany Runs a Marathon” is a really solid film; the acting is good, the writing is very humorous at moments, and the story, while somewhat predictable, is genuinely heart-warming and touching.
“I want you to try to loose fifty-five pounds.” “That’s the weight of a Siberian husky.”
Brittany (Jiillian Bell, “Inherent Vice”) is a 30 year-old woman living in New York City. She struggles with finding direction in her life; she has difficulty staying sober; her love life is non-existent; and everyone around her seems to be moving their lives in a good direction. After visiting her Doctor (Patch Darragh, “The Visit”), Brittany is told she must loose a great deal of weight in order to be healthy. At the request of her next-door neighbor Catherine (Michaela Watkins, “Sword of Trust”), Brittany joins a running group. Shortly after, Brittany decides she’ll run the New York Marathon, despite the misgivings of her friends.
So, really I think the thing I liked most about this film was the way that it handled its themes. This film is about a young woman learning to pull herself out of a rut; running a marathon, while certainly the goal of the overall film, is more of a metaphor for consistently working towards your goals, consistently working towards bettering yourself, and consistently working on moving forward from a state of non-growth. When we first meet Brittany, she’s not a bad person, in fact, she’s quite likable; she’s fun to be around, the life of the party, really, but no one wants to actually be with her romantically, and she believes that’s because of her body-weight. As much as she tries to brush this dour cloud aside, it sort of casts a constant shadow over her life, and she finds herself really unable to focus on anything beyond the immediate present. She goes out and gets drunk at night because that’s what makes her feel good; damn the consequences; damn the future- the moment is what matters.
But after the meeting with her doctor, she makes a few efforts to try to make a change, but finds it’s hard and reverts back to drinking. It’s not until Catherine comes along and urges her to “make little goals” that she starts to really make a difference in her life. She runs once around the block the first day, and then before she knows it, she’s joined a running club and is running two miles. During this whole process, Brittany’s body begins to change, and slowly but surely, she gains self-confidence and starts to make healthier choices, like telling her roommate Gretchen (Alice Lee, “Wish Upon”) that she can’t go out drinking every night because she has to go running in the mornings.
The way that this film handles change is absolutely beautiful; it’s not overly schmaltzy, the way many films are that talk about bettering yourself; if anything it feels remarkably realistic. Let’s be honest for a second, shall we? Changing yourself is hard freaking work, especially when you’re set in your ways and unwilling to admit that what you’re doing isn’t the best thing for you in the first place. Anyone that tells you that it’s an easy transition going from a non-exercising person to one that walks (or runs, or swims, or bikes, or whatever) every day is lying to you. Anyone that’s ever tried to quit a habit like smoking, or drinking (or excessive TV binging) knows that altering your daily routine is a chore. You have to make an effort. You have to keep, in the immortal words of Professor Mad Eye Moody, “CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” This film doesn’t sugar coat the fact that changing yourself is difficult, and I absolutely loved that, but taking it a step further; this film also comments on how, even if you do reach your goals, that wont necessarily turn you into a better person. Every day is a battle for you to make the right choices and say the right things to the right people, and even then, you can still mess up and make a fool of yourself. Accomplishing goals is meaningless if you don’t constantly keep at it, but this film also tells you that there has to be a balance; you have to take care of yourself- if you don’t, you’re bound to end back in the same place you were.
I think the reason I liked this film so much is that the marathon aspect sort of fell into the background, but that reason is also why I didn’t care for the ending as much. While this movie is about our protagonist learning to run a marathon, the main plot is more about her just overcoming what daily struggles she had in her life. (SPOILERS FOLLOW). There’s a moment in the third act where Brittany suffers an injury and will not be able to run the marathon that particular year; she’s upset, of course, but the film sort of wraps up everything else but the marathon. In an epilogue-esque scene, Brittany runs the marathon one year later. She pauses and struggles to get to the finish line when she reaches mile 22, but with the help of her friends cheering her on, she crosses the finish line and accomplishes her goals. Here’s the thing: we don’t need to see the race. The last ten minutes of this film are completely unnecessary. The whole film is about persevering and pursuing your goals in a healthy way, so, honestly, all we needed to see was that Brittany was at the race the following year. If she’d have just started the race and the credits would’ve rolled, I probably would’ve given this a 4.5 Star rating, but as it is, it just felt like the end was dragged out needlessly. It’s not bad, but it’s not the best way to end the film either.
Verdict:
As a whole this is a very solid dramedy; funny in moments, heart-warming in others. I’d put it on par with this year’s “Long Shot”. Jillian Bell did a great job; I wouldn’t at all be surprised if we see a lot more of her in the future.
Review Written By: