The Life Of Chuck (2024)  

Review: written Jun 2025

The most uncynical and life-affirming movie you will watch this year

I managed to watch this before knowing a single thing about it.. and as baffling as that made it at the start, I am thoroughly grateful. Because this was a little gem of a movie, and I’m convinced the less you know about it going in, the better it is when you see it.

So if you want to take my recommendation to go see it, stop reading now and come back after you’ve seen it.

Based on a story by Stephen King, this is difficult to pin into one genre, but it isn’t horror, despite having Mike Flanagan at the helm (director of Dr Sleep, Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass), though viewers should be perhaps warned of outbreaks of surrealism. It’s Stephen King in more thoughtfully existential mode, than scary mode. I’ll opt not to tell you what to expect in terms of story, but what I can tell you, is that it’s a movie that will inspire you to reflect on the moments in life that brought you joy, and make you appreciate them just a bit more, as defining rather than incidental moments in your life. Death and endings loom large.. and yet with a true existentialist mindset, these are viewed through a positive lens, finding beauty and resolution in the apparently unresolved.

I wouldn’t like to imply that the movie takes a less than circuitous route to get its purpose, however. Starting in Act 3, and working its way back to Act 1, the three acts will take you through bafflement and unease rising to outright anxiety, before morphing into laughter, joy and poignancy, and ending in realisation and tenderness. It’s unorthodox storytelling, but given credibility by a uniformly excellent cast including Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Mark Hamill. Yes, THAT Mark Hamill, almost unrecognizable as the grandpa figure harbouring an unusual secret in the cupola. (And doesn’t that just scream Stephen King, having a secret in the cupola, as opposed to an attic or basement..?). If I had a niggle, I might confess to not being entirely convinced by the voice over narration. Sometimes I would rather I ‘felt’ what was going on rather than being told.. but it’s a minor niggle, and Lord knows there were times near the start I was confused enough that the narration was welcome.

It's shot with style – and different styles, depending what act you are in, and directed with atmosphere, evoking an incredibly diverse range of emotions and provoking plenty of thoughts. I often like to ask whether the movie has engaged the brain or not – but this one? Your brain may be confused some of the time, but it’s your feelings you’ll need to get in touch with to appreciate it in full.

Yes, this movie has the ambition of Benjamin Button, the Heart of It’s A Wonderful Life, and the Life Lessons of Mr Holland’s Opus. And for all that ambition, it actually seems to work. If it is designed to push emotional buttons.. consider mine pushed. I have thought about it frequently since, and definitely want to revisit the cinema to experience this King-size trip through time, soul and Chuckles once more.