The Life of Chuck had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024, where it won the People's Choice Award, and was released in select theaters in the United States by Neon on June 6, 2025, before expanding nationwide on June 13. The film has grossed $16.2 million wordlwide.
Plot
The film is shown in reverse chronology, with the film split into three acts.
Act Three: Thanks, Chuck
Middle school teacher Marty Anderson notes several unusual things happening around the world, from natural disasters to the worldwide loss of the Internet. Several billboards and advertisements popping up everywhere display the picture of an accountant named Charles "Chuck" Krantz, with the words "Charles Krantz: 39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck!" Marty's ex-wife Felicia Gordon calls him and they ponder if the end of the universe is upon them. Both of them begin seeing more disasters and supernatural occurrences. After losing telephone service and electricity, Marty goes to Felicia's home so they can stay with one another in the universe's final moments, watching as the stars quickly vanish.
The end of the universe is revealed to be connected to 39-year-old Chuck, who is bedridden in a hospital while dying from a brain tumor. He is accompanied by his wife Ginny and his son Brian. Chuck passes away as Ginny tells him, "39 great years. Thanks, Chuck." Meanwhile, Marty tells Felicia, "I love you," just as the universe abruptly ends.
Act Two: Buskers Forever
Nine months before his death, Chuck is attending a banking conference. While walking outside, he stumbles upon a busking drummer named Taylor Franck, who sees Chuck and begins drumming for him. He is moved to dance on the spot, attracting a crowd. Janice Halliday, a young woman who had been dumped by her boyfriend via text, joins Chuck and they dance together, although Chuck is momentarily hampered by a headache before continuing on to the crowd's joy.
Chuck and Janice help Taylor pack up and the three split the profits at Taylor's insistence. Chuck admits he is unsure why he decided to dance as soon as he heard Taylor's playing. Taylor suggests they form a traveling troupe, but Chuck and Janice decline and the three part ways with a hug. Chuck resumes his day, still pondering why he danced, but in the coming months as his health declines, he has the feeling that the world was made just for that moment.
Act One: I Contain Multitudes
As a young child, Chuck loses his father and pregnant mother in a car crash. He then lives with his paternal grandparents Albie and Sarah. The bright Sarah teaches Chuck how to enjoy dancing, while the sardonic Albie turns to alcohol after his son's death, and forbids Chuck to enter their house's cupola, hinting that he had seen the ghosts of people there before they died. At school, Chuck asks his idealistic teacher Ms. Richards the meaning of the phrase "I contain multitudes" from the Walt Whitman poem "Song of Myself." Richards explains to Chuck that he contains multitudes, with the memories he gains over the course of his life forming a universe in his head.
Sarah dies after collapsing in a supermarket, worsening Albie's alcoholism. Inspired by his grandmother, Chuck joins his school's dance extracurricular program "Twirlers and Spinners", where he emerges as the best dancer of the club and teaches them how to moonwalk. He has a crush on Cat McCoy, an older and taller girl who is frequently partnered with Chuck. Despite having a boyfriend, Cat asks Chuck to share a dance at their school's Fall Fling. Chuck expresses his interest in pursuing dance to his grandfather, but Albie dismisses him and instead encourages him to be an accountant like him, sharing how math is seen in and necessary in everything. At the Fall Fling, Chuck is hesitant at first, but decides to let loose and dances with Cat in front of the large crowd, earning cheers from everyone including Marty and Felicia, with the former revealed to be a teacher at Chuck's school. After being kissed by Cat, Chuck dances by himself outside in the school field, but he injures his hand in the process which forms a scar.
Years later, Albie dies, leaving the teenaged Chuck to inherit everything including their house. His maternal grandparents from Omaha travel to stay with him until he goes off to college. Now in possession of the cupola's key, Chuck finally decides to enter the cupola and sees an apparition of himself on his deathbed as an adult, which he identifies through his scar. Despite this, Chuck dismisses his vision and promises to live life until his life runs out, saying, "I am wonderful, I deserve to be wonderful, and I contain multitudes."
Cast
Tom Hiddleston as Charles "Chuck" Krantz, an accountant who grows up loving dancing.
In December 2023, it was revealed that Flanagan would also serve as editor, as he had done in his previous films.[9] In April 2024, the Newton Brothers, frequent collaborators of Flanagan, were announced to be serving as composers.[10]
Release
The Life of Chuck premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024.[11][12][13] Later that month Neon acquired its North American distribution rights for a summer 2025 theatrical release.[14] The film was released in select theaters in the United States on June 6, 2025, before expanding nationwide on June 13.[15][16][17]
Reception
Box office
During its first weekend of limited release, The Life of Chuck grossed $224,585 from 16 theaters during the weekend of June 6–8.[18] In the United States and Canada, the film opened alongside How to Train Your Dragon, Materialists, and The Unholy Trinity, and grossed $2.3 million, finishing ninth at the box office during the weekend of June 13–15.[19]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 264 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Showing a sweeter side of director Mike Flanagan's deeply-felt emotional register, The Life of Chuck is a buoyant and often wonderful adaptation of one of Stephen King's more cosmically optimistic tales."[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[21]
Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com awarded the film 4 out of 4 stars.[22] Seitz described the movie as a "great example of popular cinema's ability to speak to the life experiences of a large cross-section of viewers without dumbing anything down". Thomas Floyd of The Washington Post praised the plot as containing "love, grief and a dash of the supernatural", while also lauding the acting of Mia Sara and Mark Hamill.[23]
In a negative review for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote "some fairy tales are better left on the page".[24] She felt that the movie "uneasily mixes moods and tones" and the movie became increasingly unrealistic in the second half. A critic for NPR, Justin Chang, also criticized the movie as "dumping exposition in scene after scene" and the plots as one note.[25]
Accolades
At the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was the winner of the People's Choice Award.[26]
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