Brittany Runs A Marathon
Directed by: Paul Downs Colaizzo
Written by: Paul Downs Colaizzo
Starring: Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Micah Stock, Lil Rel Howery, Alice Lee, Patch Darragh, Kate Arrington, Sarah Bolt, Jennifer Dundas, Mikey Day, Dan Bittner
Comedy/Drama - 103 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 29 Aug 2019
Written by: Paul Downs Colaizzo
Starring: Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Micah Stock, Lil Rel Howery, Alice Lee, Patch Darragh, Kate Arrington, Sarah Bolt, Jennifer Dundas, Mikey Day, Dan Bittner
Comedy/Drama - 103 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 29 Aug 2019
Running and writing are first cousins. The easiest things in the world to do are not run and not write. If you’re out of practice, both can be insanely challenging and über-frustrating. It is effortless to find anything else to do than run or write. However, if you keep pecking at them and chipping away at the rough edges, they can be unexpectedly rewarding. I hate it before I start and I really hate it while I am doing it, but I feel great after a run - there is an afterglow, minus the painful shuffling steps if I procrastinate too long between runs. Brittany Runs A Marathon gets it; the hardest thing on Earth to do is start. You know it’s good for you, but it also punches you in the face. Who wants to embrace a hobby, sport, or lifestyle like that?
First time feature film writer/director Paul Downs Colaizzo creates an intimate look at a mess. The audience sees it before Brittany (Jillian Bell, The Night Before) does. She is habitually late for work, stays out all night drinking and making questionable choices with men, and even she realizes her attempt to score Adderall from a doctor is on the Steve Urkel side of cool. You never want your doctor to ask, "Would you say you make healthy lifestyle choices?" Learning she is actually obese from a wall chart is a blindsiding kick to Brittany’s solar plexus. She’s out there having fun. But, she’s also stuck in a rut, emotionally, physically, and financially. Brittany’s roommate pouts over Instagram follower numbers and acts annoyed at Brittany when she suggests running, “Ugh, you know I get too skinny when I run!” Of course she does.
First time feature film writer/director Paul Downs Colaizzo creates an intimate look at a mess. The audience sees it before Brittany (Jillian Bell, The Night Before) does. She is habitually late for work, stays out all night drinking and making questionable choices with men, and even she realizes her attempt to score Adderall from a doctor is on the Steve Urkel side of cool. You never want your doctor to ask, "Would you say you make healthy lifestyle choices?" Learning she is actually obese from a wall chart is a blindsiding kick to Brittany’s solar plexus. She’s out there having fun. But, she’s also stuck in a rut, emotionally, physically, and financially. Brittany’s roommate pouts over Instagram follower numbers and acts annoyed at Brittany when she suggests running, “Ugh, you know I get too skinny when I run!” Of course she does.
Colaizzo’s script is smart enough to know when it comes to physical activity, especially running, it is too easy to sidetrack yourself with distractions, cut yourself some slack, and quit. Brittany picks up some quirky friends from a local running club who lighten the tone, which gets alarmingly dark at times, but their one-liners and can do spirits are de rigueur for their comedic roles. Catherine (Micahela Watkins, Good Boys) is the rich woman next door. She has a perfect life which annoys the hell out of Brittany because the world is too easy for women like Catherine who cannot understand how hard life is for the rest of the humans. Seth (Micah Stock) is a running novice like Brittany, but runs because his adopted son perceives him as weak. The trio work well together on screen and if the genre was more comedy than drama, they would be more one-dimensional. But, since Colaizzo lets in a certain amount of grit and fingernail dirt, Catherine and Seth both endure their respective challenges hinting that Brittany may not be the most put upon in the group.
Colaizzo’s resumé is light on the film and TV side of the business because he comes from the playhouse - he is an award-winning playwright. Outside of the theater, Colaizzo’s highlight is the storyline for an episode of the MacGyver TV series reboot. Perhaps this limited experience is why Birttany’s character, at points, feels bluntly forced and falls off the believability cliff. At a birthday party during one of her low points, Brittany launches into a preposterous tirade on another overweight woman which peppers both the film’s momentum and the audience’s enjoyment with off-putting buckshot. Brittany knows her way around alcohol; we also know she’s a happy drunk. Colaizzo made a serious error here in an attempt to keep the film moving and find the point in the script to truly bottom out Brittany before she can rise again.
Brittany Runs A Marathon is not Chariots of Fire nor an uplifting story about underdogs like McFarland, USA. This is the sneakers version of Cheryl Strayed in Wild, or to stay in Witherspoon world, a transformation ala Elle Woods from sorority socialite into litigious lawyer - but far more grounded. The movie poster with Jillian Bell holding a glass of red wine looking reluctant like, “What? Me run a marathon? Are you crazy?” hints at slapstick and goofy montages. The film is nothing of the sort. It’s an honest look at a woman who knows she must make tough choices, but shit, following through on them is fucking hard. Colaizzo based Brittany on a real person, his friend Brittany O’Neill, who started by running for only a couple blocks before taking it farther. Most of the other details are changed, but Brittany’s arc from drunken party girl to lonely island to trying to maintain life balance like the rest of us is what will most likely connect this Sundance-winner with audiences looking to root for an example of someone who confronts the worst, running and self improvement, and comes out the other side.
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