Prepare To Be Inspired By (And To Laugh And Cry At) Brittany Runs A Marathon
Starring Jillian Bell, Alice Lee, Michaela Watkins, Micah Stock, Utkarsh Ambudkar
Rated R
Comedy, Drama
Run time: 1 hr, 43 min
Directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo
In theaters August 23, 2019 (limited) and September 13, 2019 (everywhere)
There is no shortage of millennial stories, whether it is about finding yourself, searching for a purpose or attempting at love. Somehow Brittany Runs a Marathon deals with all of these things and yet stands out among the rest. Jillian Bell plays the titular Brittany and makes it an endearing, relatable story. She doesn’t set out to entirely change her life with a pep in her step and a song in her heart. She takes a look at her life and between that and a doctor’s appointment, she decides to do one small thing: run.
Brittany is a 28 year old trying her best, but there are a few things that aren’t great: she has a semi-dead-end job, her doctor wants her to lose weight and she’s starting to realize her friends aren’t exactly the most supportive. So she takes one small step and attempts running. She is advised to work towards little goals, so she does, one block at a time. Soon, she meets new people, takes up a second job and is working her way towards the ultimate goal - the finish line of the NYC Marathon.
Jillian Bell is truly delightful as Brittany, someone who you can easily imagine being - not unhappy but not happy either when it comes to her life in general. There’s something truly inspirational in this story that doesn’t necessarily have that same note that comes with a lot of ‘based on a true story’ films. It’s easy to laugh, cry and feel discouraged along with her throughout her journey, and you don’t have to be a runner to want to follow in her footsteps.
This movie is part comedy, part drama and part tug-at-your-heartstrings tale, and it somehow moves seamlessly through each genre. There are laugh-out-loud funny lines mixed with the ups and downs of real life in a way that makes the whole story feel so genuinely real. Brittany Runs a Marathon tells a myriad of stories that shows how everyone’s struggles may look a bit different on the outside but boils down to a little bit of the same, and how just taking a moment to accept support can help more than you realize. Leaving this movie put me in a mode where I felt like I could take on anything in my life, just one small goal at a time.