The Life of Chuck (2025)
Directed by: Mike Flannigan
Premise: Based on Stephen King’s novella. Told in three parts, a mild-mannered accountant (Tom Hiddleston) recalls his life.
What Works: Moviegoers may not associate Stephen King with feel good or life affirming stories but the history of his adaptations includes a niche of films such as Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. Filmmaker Mike Flannigan has established himself as one of King’s better adaptors with versions of Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep. The Life of Chuck is unique in the pantheon of King adaptations. The Life of Chuck is not horror but the film is quite novel and ambitious. The movie is beautifully produced. It’s not always ostentatious but there is a naturalistic beauty to much of the film. The Life of Chuck attempts to grasp identity and consciousness and to distill the whole of a man’s life within two hours. The filmmakers mostly succeed by making abstract ideas concrete. The story is divided into three parts arranged linearly but backward, visualizing Søren Kierkegaard’s famous assertion that “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” That narrative structure works because it makes connections and revelations that only make sense in this order. Although this film is about the totality of a man’s life and identity, the film is actually quite specifically focused, capitalizing on certain motifs in Chuck’s life. The story and scope are manageable and The Life of Chuck is impressively unified. It’s the kind of film that is rewatchable to study the way all its parts fit together. Three actors play Chuck throughout the film—Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, and Benjamin Pajak—and they are convincingly the same person. The movie also includes a great performance by Mark Hamill as Chuck’s grandfather. Hamill brings a soulfulness to the part and to the movie. That’s the outstanding quality of The Life of Chuck. Without being pretentious or hokey, this is a beautiful and life affirming movie.
What Doesn’t: The Life of Chuck has an impressive supporting cast with filmmaker Mike Flannigan including many of his regular stable of actors including Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, and Samantha Sloyan as well as other recognizable faces such as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, and Matthew Lillard. Many of these actors have just a single scene or are limited to a specific sequence. The presence of these recognizable actors in such a limited capacity does prove a little distracting. Tom Hiddleston is well cast as the adult version of Chuck and there are moments that use Hiddleston’s charm and physicality but overall the adult version of the character seems a bit remote and under-characterized especially compared to the younger versions.
Bottom Line: The Life of Chuck is a beautiful film. It’s marvelously crafted and impressively ambitious but the filmmakers match that beauty with a sense of humanity, finding meaning in the finiteness of our existence.
Episode: #1051 (June 8, 2025)