Filmsane

Brittany Runs A Marathon. How have I not seen this movie so far? Seriously. I remember reading about the raving reviews that the movie got back in January (at Sundance) and the movie’s Amazon premiere was in August of this year too. And yes. It took me a while to actually sit down and watch the directorial debut of Paul Downs Colaizzo (months and months to be more specific) but after it finally happened…. OMG it’sooooo good you guys.

Jillian Bell stars in the titular role. That of Brittany Forgler of course. She’s 28 years old overweight party animal with a slight Adderall addiction and huge self-confidence problem. She’s stuck in a soul-sucking job, has friends that constantly berate and use her and she doesn’t think too highly of herself. She’s basically me from some 5-6 years ago. I was Britney in so many ways. And much like Brittany I actually changed my life for the better, thanks to physical activity. No I didn’t pick up running and I definitely didn’t run a marathon but I did went to the gym and it changed my total outlook on life. Going to the gym and sweating my ass off really helped my sobriety, my mental state, my confidence and my weight-loss as well.

I found similarities with Brittany’s arch and much like in her case I was over-weight loner with a destructive life-style. My vice was alcohol (Vodka in particular) and had tons of so-called friends that always put me down, berated me and told me that I would never amount to anything. One of these so called friends would use every opportunity she could get (like a walk in the god damn park) to list my „flaws“and the eventual reasoning’s why I was such a pathetic loser.

And that’s basically the entire show in a nut-shell. Aside from… The running of course. The movie showed how having a better frame (let’s put it that way) will help you find a better outlook on life in general. Let me be real about it. Society is not that forgiving to the fat, sloppy people and like it or not, they are truly invisible to the rest of the human beings in our society. Trust me I know. I was one of them. But for Brittany the running/exercising was a form of escapism. More than anything else, it also gave her a sense of purpose, a confidence boost, and a goal to strive forward. She started for a short run around her block, and ended up (like the title suggest) running a NY marathon. Sure she looked great, but she finally had other purpose in life. Well, other than being everybody’s doormat.

And it the end of this post, let me break down something that the movie touched very beautifully. The emotional and mental shift that every over-weight and self-destructive person have to make in their head once they start looking good and feeling great. Even after losing that weight, they still see themselves as fat losers and will take a long mirror sessions and some encouragement from the good-meaning people to convince themselves otherwise. Trust me again. I know that too. But so sum it up…

Brittany runs a marathon is amazing movie. It’s fantastically written, well directed and well-acted. It was a pleasant surprise on a very stressful Monday night and I can’t recommend it enough.