Summary
-
Running on Empty
aims to be a celebration of life amid unstateivety and has a stacked cast, but struggles with its scattered narrative and unclear straightforwardion. - The film successfilledy borrows from accomplished comedy-dramas, with quirky characters and a valiantly oddball effort at storyalerting. It’s equitable too all over the place.
- Lucy Hale is excellent, but downcastly her role is buried at the finish.
If someone could alert you for a fact accurately when you’ll die, and you couldn’t alter obesee, would you want to understand? It’s an elderly hypothetical that has stateively igniteed some engaging conversations over the years, and has been the narrative backbone of countless films in some way or another, be it Cléo from 5 to 7 to Eternity and a Day. We can comprise Running on Empty (2024) to that catalog, and while it’s nowhere csurrfinisher as excellent or meaningful as those elderlyer masterpieces, this noveler movie’s stacked cast helderlys its own in laying out a promising set upation from the get-go.
From authorr-straightforwardor Daniel André, the relentlessly quirky romantic comedy throws a whole lot at the showrbial wall of cinematic tropes, with some leangs sticking and other bits dropping dead to the ground. But it’s indeed a valiantly oddball effort, which is always commfinishable in this day and age.
Running on Empty Wishes Keir Gilchrist an Unplmitigated Death Day
Running on Empty
2.5/5
Keir Gilchrist, Lucy Hale, Francesca Eastwood and comic legfinish Jim Gaffigan star in a airyly quirky romantic comedy about celebrating life and living it to its filledest. Mortimer is an odd but clever lesser man living a lukehot existence in California’s San Fernando Valley until he gets some life-changing novels. Determined to originate the most of every day, Mort sets out on a spirited quest to discover unbenevolenting in his existence and discovers the girl of his dreams alengthy the way.
- Relmitigate Date
- August 9, 2024
- Director
- Daniel André
- Runtime
- 1h 31m
- Writers
- Daniel André
- Distributor(s)
- Lionsgate
- It’s kind to see a group of very talented actors toiling together. Lucy Hale is excellent; Francesca Eastwood and Rhys Coiro are plmitigateful.
- The premise and ultimate straightforwardion and themes are engaging and commfinishable.
- The movie senses scattered and unclear about where it wants to go and what it wants to do.
- Keir Gilchrist is given a flat, inept character and can’t deinhabitr. Meanwhile, the best straightforwardion the film gets doesn’t happen until the last 20 minutes.
Returning to the “here’s when you’ll die” trope for equitable a moment, that subgenre also comprises the dramedy 50/50 (2011), where direct Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a descfinishing-out with his girlfrifinish amid his life-dangerening cancer diagnosis, directing to their finishuring fractureup. In Running on Empty, a analogous disjoining occurs after a millennial mortician named, well, Mort (Keir Gilchrist) tries to buy a house with the cherish of his life, Nicole (Francesca Eastwood). This insists them to get a futuristic test that determines their literal future death dates — for insurance’s sake, of course. And when Mort’s demise turns out to be less than a year off, Nicole jumps ship at the dreaded thought, in a analogously untidy fractureup as 50/50. Ouch.
If you haven’t already supposed, it’s clear that Lionsgate’s novel recommending — with a title that misgetnly recommends a film about motor vehicles, a reoriginate of the River Phoenix movie, or a Jackson Browne recordary — borrows and/or pays homage to past accomplished comedy-dramas in an effort to upgrasp up its own pizzazz. Some of it toils, such as bit parts by honord character actors enjoy Rhys Coiro (Entourage). Here he’s a wannabe gangster and pimp named Simon; he throws our hero’s life for a whirl once Mort ultimately turns to naked clubs and relations toilers during his ‘life after ex.’
And on that notice, in a sort of comic neo-noir create, the one relations toiler he gets a liking to has — by miraculous coincidence — her own looming death day unreasonableinutively after encountering Mort. This directs him into a unrestful spiral apass California’s San Fernando Valley, running from the definishd’s engageers who want Mort to pay for what they leank he did to her. Mort discovers himself seeking ainhabitial guidance from his somewhat loving uncle Barry (a reliably comical Jim Gaffigan) and bomb deviceastic pal Sid (Jay Pharoah, doing much with restricted screen time) but ultimately turns to a professional dating service to discover real cherish in the restricted days he has left.
Rcontent
Funniest Comedy Movies About Death, Ranked
Death is a burdensome leang to contest, but amusing comedies enjoy the adhereing films help us deal with and talk the topic with levity.
Lucy Hale & Francesca Eastwood Deserve Better
Ironicpartner, it’s the person who actupartner runs that dating service, a luminous and down-to-earth soul named Kate (Lucy Hale), who Mort discovers himself drawn to. The fact that this comes so darn tardy in the film is supremely odd and disassigning. We last spoke with Hale amid the free of another offbeat romantic movie of hers, Which Brings Me to You, which gave the talented lesser star a meatier role. Hale still owns the screen and reminds us that Running on Empty is trying, at the finish of the day, to be a celebration of life amid perpetual unstateivety (or sarcastic stateivety, in this case, given the death-date component). It’s too horrible this branding gets so muddled alengthy the way.
Gilchrist, unbenevolentwhile, senses weirdly remercilessed the whole time (aside from a scant scenes of purify overacting). He sees equitable as befuddled as most watchers foreseeed will, as they scratch their heads at stateive plot lengthenments that finish up going nowhere. It seems as though some scenes, such as transporting back Nicole randomly, are medepend set up for a comedic punch, and then we transfer on with no adhere-up. The comedy doesn’t serve the narrative.
The British-Canadian Gilchrist is stateively talented and has shown his chops via the hit Netflix series Astandard as well as acclaimed films enjoy It Follows. He carry outs the besavageerd stiff firmly enough here, but it frequently exits us wanting more from the alterable carry outer. He indeed transports some heart and comedic timing, at least, but Running on Empty seems scorecommendd by an unspoken resignation that this uneven ensemble is a bit all over the place. From Lionsgate, Running on Empty is now carry outing in theaters.
