Mark Reviews Movies: BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 29, 2019

It all begins as kind of a joke. Brittany (Jillian Bell), looking to score a prescription stimulant for herself and her partying roommate, goes to a doctor with some—what she thinks are—phony symptoms. She says she can't focus, which is actually closer to the truth than Brittany would care to admit. Just to watch her in the early parts of Brittany Runs a Marathon, at work and at home and out at a club with friends, is to see a person who would rather joke than be serious, would rather sleep in and rush to the start of her day than figure out a proper schedule, and would rather coast through life than come up with any sort of plan.

None of that, though, is really working. Her boss at a little theater is starting to get annoyed with how many of Brittany's messes and mistakes have to be cleaned up, simply because she seems inattentive. Her rush to public transportation never pays off, as we see her just miss getting aboard the subway train as the doors close in her face. As for the coasting part, this isn't really much of a life. Brittany is approaching 30, still lives with a roommate, doesn't have a job that pays well enough to consider independent living, has never been in a serious romantic relationship, and watches online as all of her friends are moving forward with weddings, good jobs, and kids.

This is serious stuff, but the joke that starts writer/director Paul Downs Colaizzo's film has that doctor (played by Patch Darragh) pointing out that Brittany's body mass index is high. He doesn't say the word but, instead, points at a chart on the wall, where her BMI lines up with a certain medical term: obese.

"All body types are beautiful," Brittany argues. The doctor agrees, but he also mentions that her resting heart rate is increased and her blood pressure is high. This isn't a discussion about damaging cultural norms and expectations. It's just a matter of health. Brittany is unhealthy in her current state, and if she doesn't change something soon, it's only going to get worse.

The gag, then, is that Brittany—jovial but unfocused, irresponsible, and laying-about Brittany—has to lose about 50 pounds—doctor's orders. This means focus, taking responsibility, and actually getting out of the apartment for reasons beyond work and clubbing. The gag is funny because it's not based on the matter of the character's weight. It's based upon the character's, well, character.

This is vital to the film's success for at least two reasons. First, it's never mocking Brittany. Second, it allows the screenplay to move beyond the comedic gimmick of an unmotivated person, who begins the story not even understanding why anyone would subject themselves to running for exercise or enjoyment, struggling to start and keep up a running regimen. The film may begin as a comedy, but by the end, it has become more of a character study, revealing the reasons Brittany has trouble with living a focused life—and all of the troubles that come with that way of living.

After the visit to the doctor (and an amusing scene at a gym, where a trainer makes a terrible sales pitch), Brittany decides to start running. It takes a bit, especially after she catches a view of her reflection in her makeshift running outfit. Eventually, she tags along on a running group, suggested by her neighbor Catherine (Michaela Watkins), a wealthy photographer, currently separated from her husband (Brittany doesn't learn this until later, which is another aspect of her personality issues), who uses an apartment in Brittany's building as a studio. There, she also meets Seth (Micah Stock), who has started running because of some humbling comments by his son.

The story here is a bit of a jumble, moving from bonding with the running group, to training for the marathon, to Brittany starting a new job as a house sitter at a palatial mansion, and to her budding friendship and perhaps more with Jern (Utkarsh Ambudkar), who's the nighttime house sitter and has decided to just move into the place. Calaizzo's screenplay seems more like an assemblage of narrative threads—ideas that seem to be of utmost importance that eventually move into the background.

That, though, doesn't really matter too much, because the core of the film is more about observing how Brittany, even after starting to get her health into order, has problems that are much deeper than simply finding a job, waking up on time, managing a demanding schedule, and finally telling off her judgmental roommate Gretchen (Alice Lee). She's equal parts insecure and proud, and that's an unfortunate combination for starting, let alone keeping up any kind of intimate relationship—either a friendship or a romance. Bell, who shows herself to be a natural comedic performer of the deadpan variety here, also proves herself as an actor capable of guiding the tonal shifts of this film.

Calaizzo evades some of the more complex elements of the character and the story (One sequence solidifies the suggestion that running has become a crutch, an escape, and an addiction for Brittany, if only so she can avoid any real change of character, but that angle fades to nothing with a couple of flash-forwards in the narrative), and it all builds to providing a sense of inspiration from the fulfillment of the title's promise. Brittany Runs a Marathon, though, isn't about giving us a broad and generic inspirational message (The film doesn't even reveal it's inspired by a true story until the very end). The film isn't inspiring because of what Brittany does. It's because of who she becomes in the process.

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