Better Late Than Never on "Brittany Runs a Marathon"

Yesterday I finished watching “Brittany Runs a Marathon”. It took me two days, but it’s not because I was bored by it, and figured I should finish it. Quite the opposite. I loved this movie. I felt like it was very relatable, especially the running stuff, to my experience. The only reason it took me two days, I have two kids, and they had zero interest in watching with me. If it doesn’t have super heroes, Pokémon, Minecraft, Barbie or Ryan from “Ryan’s Mystery Play Date”, my kids could care less.

As I said, was super impressed by every part of this movie. This was another one that I wanted to see in theaters, but couldn’t find the time. I was also intrigued because my buddy that I run with said he liked it, and thought I would to. He had good taste, and I usually watch most of what he recommends. When I turned the movie on it was already in my head that is was going to be good, so I’m glad that it hit, and exceeded, my personal expectations.

Jillian Bell is a great comedic actress, so to see her in a role that was more dramatic, I was pleasantly surprised at how good she was. She truly embodies the character of Brittany. From her partying days, to trying to get fit, to struggling personally and athletically, to getting her life together, I was in for all of it. I do want to point out how realistic, and how relatable, her running journey was in the movie. I am a person who was, at one time, a pretty big dude. I’m still big, but not as big as I was about 7 years ago. I took up running because it is a free sport, as long as you have shoes, and you can do it all year round. My favorite line in the movie, Brittany is at a gym, the trainer says something to her about the pricing for a membership, and she says, “you know I can just go outside and run for free, right?”. My running friends, my friends and myself, we say this all the time. It’s such a true statement. Sure, I’m part of a gym, but when given the option, I choose running nearly 100 percent of the time. When that line was spoken, I was completely on board. To see her go from that point, to starting running, again, easily relatable. When she tells herself just to make it a few blocks, and it’s a struggle, I had the same thing. It was so hard that first time I decided to run as well. From there, everything was relatable. The first time she runs two miles, and feels that joy and endorphin rush, same here. When she decides to run the NYC marathon, and starts her training, I did the same, only for a half marathon. When she runs and converses with her new friends, that’s one of my favorite things to do when I run with other people. When she starts to lose weight and feel good about herself, I went through the exact same thing with my family and friends. The injury portion from the movie, I’m currently learning how to pace myself and not re injure a minor knee injury I currently have. When she is told she can’t run for 8 weeks, I felt so bad for her, and Bell played that perfectly. The only thing I didn’t do that she does in the movie, I’ve never neglected myself from friends. I’ve never retreated into myself that much. But, again, Bell does it great in the movie. And when she’s finally healthy, and runs the NYC marathon a year later, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I choked up a bit, and some tears may have been shed.

Look, for where I’m at in my life right now as a runner, and yes, I am a runner, this movie came at the perfect time for me personally. I know I’ve only talked about Bell, but that’s rightfully so. This is one hundred percent her movie. Everyone else is good, but Bell shines. Also, I say again, I totally related to her journey. I feel like anyone could watch this movie and enjoy it, but I feel like runners will appreciate it a bit more. I don’t know if that sounds weird, or if I’m saying that you have to be a runner to like it, which you don’t. But I think if you are a runner, or a person simply trying to better yourself, you will get much more out of this movie.

I cannot recommend “Brittany Runs a Marathon” more. I think it’s a great movie, and will really speak to the runner in everyone. Go seek this movie out. It’s very good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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