Roommates Brittany O’Neill and Paul Downs Colaizzo were talking in their apartment one evening, and while she was having one of those “what am I doing with my life” moments we all face as she looked at herself with a dead-end job and overindulging. As they were trying to figure out how Brittany could make a change for the better in what Colaizzo stated as “what she could control right then”, they realized there needed to be some physical activity in her life and landed on running. Starting small with clothes and shoes she already owned while gradually increasing her distance, other changes began taking shape in her life, and three months later, Colaizzo started working on the semi-biographical movie to inspire us all in “Brittany Runs a Marathon”.
While not 100% accurate to Brittany’s story, it is a story we can all relate to as Jillian Bell brings Brittany Forgler to life on the big screen. At twenty-seven, after trying to con a doctor into an Adderall script, she is advised that she needs to get healthy to get both her body and mind to where they need to be. Finding inspiration from a neighbor she thinks has it all (“SNL” alum Michaela Watkins), she runs one block and feels accomplished, and as she increases her distance, other parts of her life start to fall into place as well as both women decide to train for the New York City Marathon along with their other running buddy in Seth (Micah Stock).
However, her journey is not all rainbows and unicorn, as the story also shows the struggle in a believable way. This isn’t just about weight loss: it is a journey of self-value and reality in achieving goals. The script is strong to where there are moments where I thought the story was being told by someone who was is a fly on the wall during moments of my actual life and engulfed me to the point where I lost track of the fact that I was in a movie theater.
The cast is full of characters I loved, loved to hate, felt for, wanted to hug, and wanted to shake some common sense into. From Alice Lee as Gretchen, her roommate and best friend of many years whom uses social media to show the world how amazing her life is to Lil Rel Howery as her brother-in-law and father figure whom is always in her corner (even when she messes up) and Utkarsh Ambudkar’s Jern, whom shows her that not everyone only looks at the outside, everyone fits together very well to properly execute this great script.
There are adult moments and adult conversations, so I would say anyone over eighteen (or after parents have viewed and approved if under eighteen) should see this movie. After losing some momentum myself, “Brittany Runs a Marathon” has helped get me back on track.