THE LIFE OF CHUCK (2025)

Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck is a life-affirming exploration of an ordinary man. Based on Stephen King’s 2020 novella, the film starts shrouded in mystery and slowly becomes an unabashedly sentimental celebration of living life and the village it takes to turn a child into a well-rounded adult.

The Life of Chuck opens at the end, during the literal End Times of America. We meet overworked schoolteacher Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and tired nurse Felicia (Karen Gillan), who are trying to go about their lives as the world around them shuts down. Parts of the country are falling into the sea, the internet’s broken, and then the lights go off. Overlooking the End of Days is one Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston), with billboards lining the collapsing roads, ads filling the fading TV channels, and commercials running between news stories of the declining universe, thanking him for his 39 years.

The first (or third?) act explores how people want to spend their last moments with each other. If you knew the world was coming to an end, who would you call and where would you go? The film never explicitly explains why Chuck’s eyes watch over the universe’s final moments; that’s left for audiences to work out. The Life of Chuck is best enjoyed without prior knowledge of the movie or the structure of its story.

The eponymous Chuck makes his appearance in the middle act, which reaches back further in his timeline. Hiddleston strolls into the film in a tailored suit and rimmed glasses like he’s walked off the set of a 1940s film. Chuck’s at an accountancy conference and seems to be an entirely normal, if not even boring, man. He stops when he sees a drumming busker, entranced by her rhythm. This act is predominantly taken up with an extended dance scene between Chuck and a woman he meets in the crowd (Annalise Basso).

Chuck may look like an uptight office worker, but something about the music reminds him of a more free-spirited version of himself that loved to dance and feel the beat. At first, the scene seems a nonsensical time-waster, but slowly and surely, it draws you in. You’ll get caught up in the moment, much like Chuck and the rhythm of the drummer. Hiddleston doesn’t spend much time on screen, but his charisma lingers long after he’s gone.

The film’s final act is the first act of Chuck’s life. A young Chuck (Benjamin Pajak, then later Jacob Tremblay) is left an orphan after his parents die in a car accident. He spends his formative years in the care of his grandparents (Mark Hamill, Mia Sara) and the ghosts locked in their attic. Here is when he learns to dance, his passion for movement and life encouraged by his grandmother in the kitchen.

The last chapter is the longest and most significant. The Life of Chuck reveals its true nature. It’s a coming-of-age drama with a haunted house mystery lingering in the background. The pieces come together but it requires a bit of thinking from audiences. Answers are never handed out on a plate, and the reaction will likely be connected to each individual viewer’s own history, but there’s beauty in having to work for the film’s meaning.

Chuck’s life is narrated by Nick Offerman (Devs), who presents the story as if it were a fairytale about an everyman. Chuck’s an entirely normal man surrounded by entirely normal people, but whose life deserves to be celebrated as much as a celebrity, a CEO, or a king. Offerman’s narration may tread too much into whimsy for some, adding even more sentimentality to Flanagan’s own feelings-heavy script.

Presenting the story in reverse order gives Chuck a Benjamin Button-style narrative arc. Life should be lived backwards so you get the chance to truly enjoy every second. Through all the ghost stories and apocalyptic scenes, The Life of Chuck is ultimately about cherishing the small moments and appreciating that every second and every person counts. Those expecting a more classic ghost story will likely feel short-changed, but the more heartfelt approach to things.

Mike Flanagan and Stephen King are kindred spirits. Both are known for their horror, but their work often looks past ghosts, ghouls, and the undead to see the humanity. Flanagan has made some of the best King adaptations: Gerald’s Game (2017), Doctor Sleep (2019), and some might even say his miniseries Midnight Mass (2021) took heavy inspiration from Salem’s Lot. This is because he understands the real horror of King’s work is human, not supernatural. The terror of Chuck’s life is the loss of his parents and the things never said as a teenager, not the spirits lurking within his walls.

The Life of Chuck is full of Flanagan’s trademark monologues, often delivered by side characters like Chuck’s English teacher (Kate Siegel), Marty’s neighbour (Matthew Lillard), or his grieving grandfather. Some are more effective than others; the long speeches about Carl Sagan and Walt Whitman won’t be for everyone, but they are delivered with earnest pathos by Hamill, Siegel, and a brief but memorable appearance by Carl Lumbly.

The opening is full of eerie cosmic dread about the end of the world, but fear not, The Life of Chuck is full of whimsy and charm. It’s not as alarming or as philosophical as its opening act would have you think. Its saccharine tone won’t be for everyone, and Flanagan’s own screenplay certainly turns schmaltzy after the end of the first act. But, this is a film that gently appreciates life’s small moments.

The Life of Chuck may be compared to other movies, but it’s an original experience. It mixes the whimsy of Big Fish (2003), the surreal taste of The Truman Show (1998), and the life philosophy of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). But, it’s the type of genuinely life-affirming, joyous film they don’t make very often anymore. In the age of paranoia and global wars, The Life of Chuck finds a slice of positivity at the end of the world.

USA | 2025 | 111 MINUTES | 1.85:1 • 2.00:1 • 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Mike Flanagan.
writer: Mike Flanagan (based on the novella by Stephen King).
starring: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay & Mark Hamill.