The Life of Chuck

There is something extremely charming about the fact that horror master Mike Flanagan never hides the fact that his biggest idol is Stephen King, a man he has now worked with on three feature films and whose support he continues to enjoy in his attempt to modernise Carrie. Flanagan loves King more than life itself, and it shows when he embellishes and expands
King's short stories into full-length feature films.

After adapting Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep for the big screen, Flanagan has now taken on another short story (part of the collection If It Bleeds) in the form of The Life of Chuck, and just like The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, this is a slightly different story from the man who gave us everything from It to The Shining, Misery, Cujo, and Salem's Lot.

The Life of Chuck is divided into three chapters, presented in non-chronological order, and is about accountant Chuck Krantz and his life. The theme here is how we as humans are shaped, formed, and become part of the experiences we face and live through, and in the same spirit as King's other drama-filled works, it's often quite slow-paced and emotionally forced.

In the first chapter, Chuck has passed away. Since he lived his 39 years as a god-fearing man, loved and liked by everyone, he is thanked for his contribution to humanity via a large advertising billboard in the centre of the city where elementary school teacher Marty Anderson lives. Marty doesn't understand the billboard, obviously doesn't know who Chuck is, and never really gets around to doing any research either, because he is facing the end of the world. We, the audience, see this through Marty's unknowing eyes, and as the world crumbles, he seeks comfort from his only friend, the panicked Felicia, who is as confused and terrified as everyone else.

End of act one.

In the second chapter, Chuck is an adult, dressed in a wrinkled Brooks Brothers suit and on his way to work when he passes a street musician in the form of drummer Taylor Gordon (The Pocket Queen) and before he knows it, he has started dancing to the rhythm of the drums in the middle of the street, like a madman. Tom Hiddleston (Chuck) has clearly taken lots of dance lessons to fit into the role of the dancing accountant, and this entire chapter is about how music takes over and how dance is a vital, big part of his life.

End of act two.

In the third and final chapter, we learn why Chuck can dance so well, why he has lived his life so intensely, and why he has always tried to be the very best, kindest, sweetest, and most godly generous of people, and here King/Flanagan rewinds time to his childhood, which, in true King spirit, is drenched in tragedy and some subtle humour. It gets a little delicate here and there, and the acting is fine, not least from Mark Hamill in the role of the alcoholic grandfather Albie, but on the whole, this film didn't work very well for me.

Technically, it was good, Flanagan is as skilled as ever, and his casting is always spot on, but as a story, The Life of Chuck felt so overloaded that it came across as bloated and fat, and for me, I can't help but feel that it was too deliberately "emotional" in a way that made the whole film feel like the kind of superficial escapism that Hollywood has always been so good at trying to force down our throats.

The Life of Chuck is basically a pretty charming story about life, all the twists and turns we've all been through and will experience, however, it becomes a little too disjointed and forced in terms of dramaturgy, and it becomes too contrived in terms of emotions and the tearful moments that define Chuck as a person. In that way, it reminds me a bit of The Green Mile, which is well-made, stylish, and atmospheric, but also suffers from the same fundamental problem in terms of how tear-jerking and message-heavy it is, and tries to be.