BEFORE: Parts of the U.S. are in the grip of a mighty heat-wave right now, there were triple-digit temperatures in the Southwest last week, and now the Pacific Northwest has them. It seems perhaps the Earth's not done trying to get rid of humans, the pandemic may be almost over for some, but the hits just keep right on coming. It's 90 degrees in NYC as I type this, summer only JUST started last week, so I fear this is only going to get worse. But no, climate change couldn't possibly be a real thing, could it, Republicans? I went out on an errand yesterday at work and I had to stop for ice cream on the way back - but that's just a temporary fix. I have to leave the house in a few hours to go work in an air-conditioned movie theater, but I have to somehow GET there first. Needless to say, if you're into running outdoors, maybe consider today a "skip day".
Jillian Bell carries over from "Bill & Ted Face the Music".
THE PLOT: A young woman decides to make positive changes in her life by training for the New York City marathon.
AFTER: I'm not a runner, but I was once married to one, so this film hits home in many ways. My first-wife took up running in a similar fashion as a method of self-improvement, and it was one of many things we started to NOT have in common, so eventually her vision of her future didn't include being married to a non-runner / non-exerciser. Maybe I'm just thinking about her because on Sunday I was working in the East Village, surrounded by people who had just attended the city's Pride Parade. But I digress.
Still, there are plot elements that do make me empathize with the main character - I'd been looking for a new part-time job since December, and it took me until June to get one. And of course, as soon as I got one, I wanted to quit it, and part of the reason for that is that the job involves physical labor, and of course I've been against physical fitness for most of my life. To then have to stand and walk around for eight hours at a time, well, it sure hasn't been easy. Leg pain, foot pain, and just being exhausted overall just makes me want to pack it in, but I'm trying to stick with it as long as I can because I need to make more money, so ideally it would be great if one of the other employers I've applied to recently would give me a call, so I can get out of this madcap, illogical situation I've gotten myself into and maybe work someplace more sane and suited to my needs. Yes, I acknowledge that I've become very spoiled over the last two decades, working for people in the realm of independent film who don't have rigid working schedules or put TOO much demand on me, physically (umm, except for working at Comic-Cons, which have often tested my limits.)
But enough about my problems - Brittany in this film is overweight and under-employed, she's got a job handing out playbills at a theater that she doesn't take very seriously, and her doctor has pointed out that her BMI puts her in the obese category, and she's in danger of more serious conditions like liver failure. She's got toxic friendships and no stable relationship, so clearly there are some changes that need to be made, and her upstairs neighbor is a running enthusiast who seems to have it all together (only, umm, she doesn't, because really nobody does) and the neighbor encourages Brittany to make small goals, like running just one block. If you haven't run in the past ever, this of course seems daunting at first, but Brittany gives it a go. And then to prove she's not a quitter, she meets up with a running club to go two miles, then the next goal is to enter a 5K, and, well, you know the title of the film so you can probably guess where this is going.
The New York City marathon is not open to everyone, surprisingly. Or maybe not surprisingly - if they let everyone enter who wanted to enter, there would be like 2 million people who have convinced themselves they can do it (they can't ALL be right) and then it would take like two days just to have everyone cross the starting line - it just wouldn't work. But there are several paths to entry, one of which is being a member of this Road Runners club, and having a track record of completing a different marathon in another city in a certain amount of time. I guess it's like anything else, you can't get a job in a certain field unless you already HAVE experience in that field, right? But then there are a few alternative paths to qualifying, like entering a lottery for a small number of open spaces, or raising money for a charity, or volunteering for certain other organizations, or, and this might be on the tough side, just become an Olympic marathon champion and wait for an invitation.
Look, I get that this film is (somewhat) based on a true story, and it's designed to be an inspirational story about finding one's motivation and setting goals and then sticking with them and following through. And maybe if each one of us does that and follows our bliss and stays on our true path, good things will come to us as rewards. But I'm not sold on that idea, for some reason, something deep down tells me that it just can't be that simple. What if you follow your dreams, find your motivation, achieve your goals, and then get hit by a bus when you're out running one day? It's just as likely, I think.
Also, things are quite fuzzy here because Brittany is depicted as backsliding from time to time - sneaking out for a cheeseburger and fries, or projecting her insecurities on to an overweight guest at her brother-in-law's birthday party? Exercising and getting down to her goal weight didn't seem to dispatch the demons inside, now, did it? And taking that job as a dog-sitter in the fancy house, while it was a great opportunity, ended up causing more problems than it solved, which was just an odd narrative bit of business. She still took the easy way out, once she realized she could basically live in that house for a time and escape from her problems. Then the whole relationship with Jern was weird, too - she hated him, they had nothing in common, and he represented everything she was trying to not BE any more, so I couldn't even understand why she was drawn to such a negative character.
I guess at the end of the day, we are who we are, and that means we can take steps to improve our lives, work hard and try to get somewhere, but we're always going to make mistakes. Still, that's a bit of a weird message to get from a film, right? OK, this character's a screw-up, but then she's going to try to change, then she keeps screwing up. I guess it works for Peter Parker, it makes Spider-Man more accessible for some people, that he never really gets things quite right either in the superhero world or his personal life. Is that really going to make us all feel better, though, at the end of the day? I've got my reservations about this.
Plus, haven't we been hearing in the last few years about being "body-positive", how we're supposed to be getting away from this unrealistic notion of some impossible standard of how being skinny represents being beautiful, and that some people just aren't designed to be skinny? There's that whole movement around being more accepting of our bodies, even if they have a few extra pounds on them, and there's Lizzo and Chrissy Metz and others shining a light on this issue, even Victoria's Secret is getting away from their unrealistic "Angels" and same goes for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, I thought we were, as a society, trying to get away from the Barbie-like definitions of fitness and beauty, and so, therefore, what gives?
Also starring Michaela Watkins (last seen in "Brigsby Bear"), Utkarsh Ambudkar (last seen in "Game Over, Man!"), Lil Rel Howery (last heard in "The Angry Birds Movie 2"), Micah Stock (last seen in "Life Itself"), Alice Lee, Patch Darragh (last seen in "Sully"), Peter Vack, Kate Arrington (last seen in "The Irishman"), Juri Henley-Cohn, Adam Sietz, Mikey Day, Max Pava, Erica Hernandez, Dan Bittner (last seen in "Marshall"), Beth Malone (last seen in "The Comedian"), Esteban Benito (last seen in "Isn't It Romantic"), Nadia Quinn, Gene Gabriel, Sarah Bolt, Ian Unterman.
RATING: 4 out of 10 shin splints
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