The Life of Chuck (2024)

Apocalypse first, school dance last. The Life of Chuck runs backward on purpose, and whether that’s beautiful or exhausting depends on how much sleep you got. Mike Flanagan adapts a Stephen King novella in three acts. First, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s teacher Marty watches the world fall apart while billboards thank an accountant named Chuck for 39 great years. Then Tom Hiddleston’s Chuck, at a banking conference, passes a street drummer, stops, and dances like his body made the call before his brain could object. That scene alone is worth the ticket. Then we meet him as a boy, raised by grandparents played by Mia Sara and Mark Hamill, both terrific. The problem is how hard it tells you what to feel. Nick Offerman’s narration repeats what the pictures already said, the piano keeps cueing the tears, and a few lines sound like fortune cookies. A 7.8 because it earns most of the tears it asks for. $43.81 says you dance somewhere public this month, and at least one person joins in.

What works: Hiddleston’s sidewalk dance is pure joy, and Mia Sara and Mark Hamill give the childhood chapter real warmth and ache.

What doesn’t: The narration and the score keep spelling out the feelings, and some of the big lines land like greeting card verses.

Who it’s for: Stephen King readers who prefer his gentle side, and anyone who cries at weddings and isn’t ashamed of it.