Movie Review: Brittany Runs a Marathon
Brittany (Jillian Bell) is overweight and eats takeout a lot. She goes to see her doctor, who wants her to lose about 40-50 pounds; she's currently 5'6" and about 200 pounds. She thinks that's crazy, but soon she starts running—first one block, then a few—and eventually joins a runners club that her neighbor Catherine (Michaela Watkins) is in. Eventually she sets a goal: she will run 26.2 miles in the New York City Marathon in slightly less than a year's time.
Jillian Bell was fantastic in this film, and really makes the movie, although Watkins (Hulu's Casual), Utkarsh Ambudkar as a coworker friend, and the rest of the supporting cast, are great too. There are a lot of one-liners throughout that will make you laugh out loud, sometimes when you are least expecting it, and the story is a relatable one, too.
Yes, see this film. The movie also has underlying themes about social media—for example, there's a scene where a character moves back home, and isn't happy about it, but puts something on Facebook like "Home sweet home, forgot how pretty this city is!" (the underlying message being, we put our "best selves" on social media and it's not always reflective of real life)
The film also has a message about how overweight people are treated in today's society, and Brittany, though she loses weight throughout the film as she keeps up with her running, can definitely identify with this.
I'd recommend this film for anyone who likes funny comedies, or really anyone who just likes a good story; it's based on a true story, too, so be sure to stay till the end to see pictures of the real Brittany.
Brittany Runs a Marathon will be in theaters today, and is rated R with a runtime of 104 minutes. 4 stars out of 5.
{locally: the Main Art will be playing it, as of this week.}
