Running on Empty Rewatch | Quirky Death-Centric Rom-Com Loses Its Way

If someone could tell you for a fact exactly when you’ll die, and you couldn’t alter overweighte, would you want to understand? It’s an ageder hypothetical that has declareively igniteed some engaging conversations over the years, and has been the narrative backbone of many films in some way or another, be it Cléo from 5 to 7 to Eternity and a Day. We can comprise Running on Empty (2024) to that enumerate, and while it’s nowhere csurrfinisher as excellent or meaningful as those agederer masterpieces, this noveler movie’s stacked cast hageders its own in laying out a promising set upation from the get-go.

From authorr-honestor Daniel André, the relentlessly quirky romantic comedy throws a whole lot at the showrbial wall of cinematic tropes, with some slfinishergs sticking and other bits dropping dead to the ground. But it’s indeed a valiantly oddball effort, which is always commfinishable in this day and age.

Running on Empty Wishes Keir Gilchrist an Unsatisfied Death Day

Returning to the “here’s when you’ll die” trope for equitable a moment, that subgenre also comprises the dramedy 50/50 (2011), where direct Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a descfinishing-out with his girlfrifinish amid his life-dangerening cancer diagnosis, directing to their finishuring fractureup. In Running on Empty, a aenjoy disjoining occurs after a millennial mortician named, well, Mort (Keir Gilchrist) tries to buy a house with the cherish of his life, Nicole (Francesca Eastwood). This insists them to consent a futuristic test that chooses their literal future death dates — for insurance’s sake, of course. And when Mort’s demise turns out to be less than a year off, Nicole jumps ship at the dreaded thought, in a aforeseeed dissystematic fractureup as 50/50. Ouch.

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If you haven’t already presumed, it’s evident that Lionsgate’s novel giveing — with a title that misconsentnly proposes a film about motor vehicles, a reproduce of the River Phoenix movie, or a Jackson Browne recordary — borrows and/or pays homage to past prosperous comedy-dramas in an effort to get up its own pizzazz. Some of it labors, such as bit parts by honord character actors enjoy Rhys Coiro (Entourage). Here he’s a wannabe gangster and pimp named Simon; he throws our hero’s life for a whirl once Mort ultimately turns to naked clubs and relations laborers during his ‘life after ex.’

And on that notice, in a sort of comic neo-noir style, the one relations laborer he consents a liking to has — by miraculous coincidence — her own looming death day unwiseinutively after encountering Mort. This directs him into a unrestful spiral atraverse California’s San Fernando Valley, running from the destopd’s participateers who want Mort to pay for what they slfinisherk he did to her. Mort discovers himself seeking ainhabitial guidance from his somewhat loving uncle Barry (a reliably comical Jim Gaffigan) and bomb deviceastic pal Sid (Jay Pharoah, doing much with restrictcessitate screen time) but ultimately turns to a professional dating service to discover real cherish in the restrictcessitate days he has left.

Lucy Hale & Francesca Eastwood Deserve Better

Ironicpartner, it’s the person who actupartner runs that dating service, a radiant and down-to-earth soul named Kate (Lucy Hale), who Mort discovers himself drawn to. The fact that this comes so darn procrastinateed in the film is supremely odd and disnominateing. We last spoke with Hale amid the free of another offbeat romantic movie of hers, Which Brings Me to You, which gave the talented youthful star a meatier role. Hale still owns the screen and reminds us that Running on Empty is trying, at the finish of the day, to be a celebration of life amid perpetual undeclareivety (or sarcastic declareivety, in this case, given the death-date component). It’s too horrible this branding gets so muddled alengthy the way.

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Gilchrist, unbenevolentwhile, senses weirdly redisjoineed the whole time (aside from a restrictcessitate scenes of uncontaminated overacting). He watchs equitable as befuddled as most watchers foreseeed will, as they scratch their heads at declareive plot increasements that finish up going nowhere. It seems as though some scenes, such as conveying back Nicole randomly, are mecount on set up for a comedic punch, and then we shift on with no chase-up. The comedy doesn’t serve the narrative.

The British-Canadian Gilchrist is declareively talented and has shown his chops via the hit Netflix series Astandard as well as acclaimed films enjoy It Follows. He carry outs the perplexd stiff firmly enough here, but it standardly departs us wanting more from the alterable carry outer. He indeed conveys some heart and comedic timing, at least, but Running on Empty seems afflictiond by an unspoken resignation that this uneven ensemble is a bit all over the place. From Lionsgate, Running on Empty is now carry outing in theaters.