“The Life of Chuck” reminds us that we have a unique variation with “It’s A Wonderful Life,” a smooth but epic reminder for taking dance lessons as much as possible.
There is also a third reminder. Someone’s eye rolls are shattered and beautiful reminders that life is beautiful, perhaps harsh, sometimes lonely, and filled with the wrong turns where the apocalypse may approach. But it’s beautiful.
This latest Stephen King screen adaptation is written and directed by Mike Flanagan, best known for Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” All these elements find a home somewhere in the running time of “Chuck’s Life” and tell in three inverse chronology chapters. It starts with the ending (of the planet), and ends with the adolescence, the first crash and kind heart of an orphan boy. It’s whether his ambitious and sad accountant grandfather (played by Mark Hamill) was right or wrong for him all along.
The first and most interesting chapter, narrated by Nick Offerman, focuses on the teacher Marty, played by the excellent Tutel Ejofor. He is resourceful and deals with his desperate students and even more hopeless parents. The reason for their despair is beyond who controls.
The world has it. I’m quitting time. We learn some details on the spot from news reports and townspeople tweets about California falling at sea, wildfires, earthquakes, lost satellite communications, and wifi and the internet itself almost dying for a minute. The center is not maintained.
The strangest thing is the most beloved. Around town, Marty and others say, “39 Great Year!” Meanwhile, Marty and his ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan) commiss over the phone about the latest roster of disaster, in good terms. Director Flanagan handles the escalating madness with suggestive ambiguity.
Then, at night, Chuck’s satellite (or celestial body?) video images appear in every window in every house in sight, long after the power has been lost. Marty and Felicia stare at the stars in Felicia’s backyard. Perhaps the love they knew, unlike everything around them, has once been intact. And maybe they have to settle in wonder.
Part 2 is the story of Chuck, which takes place before the first chapter. At least part of it. Tom Hiddleston portrays the accountant of all of these people who married his daughter. Chuck traveled to a new town for the convention. In between meetings, he goes outside for a walk and is drawn to the drumming skills of Busker (Taylor Gordon) on the sidewalk. He catches the eye of a young woman (Annalize Basso) and throws it away recently and isn’t happy about it, so he asks for her hand while the drummer does her thing. This isn’t just about important scenes from the film. It is intended as a lively demonstration of life, beyond all traditional concepts of accounting, as precise choreography and flashy.
Where did Chuck move? The answer comes as planned in the final chapter after learning the perfect situation and fate of the adult Chuck. This childhood version of Everyman Archetype (he is not actually a character) is played by Benjamin Pajak and Jacob Tremblay (“The Room”) in puberty. Chuck endures a difficult and sad childhood after the tragic death of his parents. He finds love and comfort under the loving care of his grandparents, played by Hamill and Mia Sarah. Here, King’s Material, adapted to Flanagan, is inched into the terror of a small town behind a closed room, and Chuck’s grandparents’ house contains evil. Or at least it’s not from this world.
Clearly, “Chuck’s Life” works for many. It won the coveted Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, a frequent harbinger of the Oscar’s best photo winner. Well, maybe. This could be one of the films like “The Shawshank Redemption” (another King Story).
But it’s sacred, false in the embrace of normal life, and ultimately an extension of Walt Whitman (name checked in the film) and his line, and ultimately a sacred, and ultimately a crazy, and a bit of a crazy thing. We are all and are. But it’s a bit too little to set the life of an annoyed accountant over space curtain calls, you know too much.
The final word about the visual landscape of the film. Maybe it’s just me, but Town Square (most of the films were filmed in various Alabama locations) is similar to one of those spooky Hallmark Channel Christmas specials, but in July. You’re waiting for a big reveal: the town’s “Truman Show”! It’s not the real thing! But what is obvious never comes. It’s not a documentary or anything, but the best Stephen King stories on screen keep one foot in the world we recognize and allow us to descend into another world and explore. After the convincing and strange first chapter is over, “Chuck’s Life” is a dull kind of weirdness.
“Chuck’s Life” – 2 stars (out of 4)
MPA Rating: R (for language)
Running time: 1:51
How to watch: Premiere at the theatre on June 6th
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
Original issue: June 9, 2025 EDT
