Not all films are worthy of their Rotten Tomatoes score. But thankfully, that’s not the case with the inspiring fact-based comedy and jewel of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Brittany Runs a Marathon.
Rising star Jillian Bell shines as our protagonist Brittany Forgler, a crowd-pleasing, goofball party girl, who after visiting a doctor to obtain an Adderall prescription to sustain her hard-partying and unhealthy lifestyle, finds out she must make some serious changes.
The doctor is frank with Brittany when he explains that she must try to exercise and cut down on the excessive drinking or her health could suffer. While she is caught off-guard by the doctor’s candor, deep down Brittany realizes that she really should make improvements in all areas of her life as she exits her twenties and is seemingly somewhat of a train wreck.
As Brittany starts to come to terms with reality, she decides to take control of her life. And after realizing how expensive gym memberships can be, adopts running outside as the first step towards better lifestyle choices.
Slowly, but surely, and with the help of several supportive friends along the way—such as comedian Lil Rel Howery (Uncle Drew), who plays Brittany’s somewhat of a surrogate dad-type figure, Demetrius—Brittany begins to take one step after the other to achieve her goals. Her pie in the sky: Run the New York City Marathon and of course, get her life in order.
Brittany gives up drinking, sacrifices her social life and loses touch with some of the people who she thought were her friends. Those folks just couldn’t get on-board with Brittany’s new and improved lifestyle. What follows is a human and genuine tale of a woman battling herself.
For Paul Downs Colaizzo’s directorial debut, he did a great job portraying this complex journey of a transformation, while diving deep into the sacrifices that we all must make in order to be the best versions of ourselves and live our best life.
The truth is: We all get off track sometimes. We all have our struggles, obstacles, insecurities, and sometimes, overcoming those hurdles and achieving our goals is less of a sprint and more of a marathon.
At a recent press day, The Movie Mensch got to speak with Colaizzo and Lil Rel about making the surprisingly inspiring breakout Sundance hit Brittany Runs a Marathon.
Colaizzo said that he was shocked by the positive and emotional reaction from Sundance audiences. After all, the real life Brittany, who the film is based on, was his former roommate and remains a close friend.
“It was nuts,” he said, adding that the idea for her to really start running came from a conversation the two had about “happiness, fulfillment, success, and what we were capable of changing.”
“Out of that conversation, she decided to start running as a way to sort of take control of her life,” Colaizzo recounted.
The first-time director went on to say that as he watched Brittany start running and “get her life in order,” he thought to himself, “this is a story and it deserves to be told.”
“It’s provocative, emotional, and it’s also very real,” Colaizzo explained. “It’s a story about a woman battling herself in a world that doesn’t help her with that battle that much.”
Colaizzo went on to elaborate that he was inspired by Brittany’s “emotional experience of trying to find a version of happiness that we’re all trying to find.” Which is likely why this story has resonated so well with audiences. It’s relatable on a very human level when it comes to our internal battles.
Of course, Brittany is one the first people Colaizzo sends his scripts to, so when she read this one that was based on her experiences, she was totally onboard. “She was flattered and intrigued,” he reported. “And what’s really weird about it is that I told her specific plot points that were going to happen in the film, and they started happening to her in real life.”
His real life pal possess a deep belief that the cinematic chronicling of her life improvement effort will be contagious. “She’s hopeful that the movie inspires people to take steps in their lives that they may not take without a little encouragement, while making people feel seen and that their story matters.”
He went on to explain that, as a writer, it’s great when your work gets exposed to a huge audience. But it’s even better when the message in the work is “saying the right thing to what we need to hear right now…the joy is uncontainable.” And we are fairly confident that most would agree that this movie provides what society should hear right now.
We also got to hear from the hilarious Lil Rel Howery, who has nothing but great things to say about working with Bell. He reported that working with Bell was “amazing.”
“I think this film is really going to blow up and showcase how talented she really is,” he said of Bell. Over at The Movie Mensch, we can totally agree with that statement since Bell gets to show off not only her comedic chops, but also her leading lady dramatic talents, too.
Howery said he has a lot going on since the 2017 hit Get Out. “I’ve done four movies this year, man. And it’s been cool picking scripts that I like. I’ve been lucky enough to pick a lot of stuff that people responded to well, and I think this movie is going to be another one.”
However, Lil Rel wasn’t first considered to be Brittany’s wise father figure. In fact, he was first brought in to read for the part of Brittany’s love interest in the film and his role wasn’t even in the script. But he loved it nonetheless.
Howery manages to maintain the same comedic relief that he did in Get Out, only this time we get to see more range and heart from the up-and-coming actor.
Howery recounted that when he met with Colaizzo to discuss another role, he provided him feedback on the script, suggesting that, “Brittany should be held accountable for being mean.”
“I was just goin’ in about this stuff, and he was just like ‘okay,’ and didn’t really say anything in the meeting,” Howery added.
Come to find out, Colaizzo re-wrote the screenplay to add Lil Rel’s character! Who … guess what? Holds Brittany accountable and is the wise voice of reason and tough love for her, reminding her to learn to be okay with people helping her and to not allow her insecurities to hinder from receiving love.
“Originally, her dad was in the screenplay. But he just made me her father-figure after that meeting. I just thought that was dope.” Howery admitted. “And that’s what I love about the creative process.” Yeah, us, too!Brittany races into theaters August 23, and this is one marathon you don’t want to miss.