Starring: Keir Gilchrist, Lucy Hale and Francesca Eastwood
Directed by: Daniel Andre
Rated: R
Running Time: 91 minutes
Lionsgate
Our Score: 1.5 out of 5 stars
Anytime I watch a bad comedy, I always feel like writing, “comedy is hard.” That’s because it is. During my most recent trip to San Diego Comic-Con, I spent an off-night watching comedians at an open-mic night. I’d like to say they all performed well, but 3 out of 4 times, the unknown comedian on-stage bombed. At least the 1 out of 4 kept things interesting every 15 minutes. Cut to several weeks later, I’m watching another comedian, director/writer Daniel Andre bomb on screen with “Running on Empty.”
The film starts out interestingly enough. Mort (Keir Gilchrist) is a mortician (I can’t tell if this is a play on words or a bad joke) who lives in a world where we have figured out a way to determine one’s death day, or as the film calls it; life day count. Ignoring the science and notion that life is predetermined, we focus on Mort who finds out he has less than a year to live, which causes his fiance, who has a much, much, much longer life day count, to dump him on the spot. In an effort to cheer Mort up, his friend recommends a dating site for other 20-to-30-somethings in his position who have only days left on this Earth. Then the film keeps making the plot more complicated than it should be with a montage of bad dates, a sex worker, an angry pimp, a family that is troubled, but rarely seen, and the potential of finding the love of his life. Also, for whatever reason, he continues to work his 9-to-5 at the morgue.
There’s a lot of funny people in “Running on Empty,” like Jim Gaffigan and Jay Pharoah, but just like the title, their creative juices are hampered and running low. Gaffigan gets in a few clever quips (or maybe I like him enough to forgive the bad humor), but it’s obvious he only was on-set for a day. Same with Pharoah. As for Chilchrist, it’s difficult to put any blame on him for Mort’s dull unlikeability. The only time Mort works as a character is when he does find love, but it’s so brief and fleeting it makes you wonder if Andre even knew how to write the romantic part of his romantic comedy. “Running on Empty” is like an unrealized idea for a love story with a series of sketch comedy ideas that are tonally inconsistent, predictable and awkwardly portrayed beforehand.
There’s actually some good stuff here, but it’s briefly scattered throughout. The only part that kept me constantly entertained was relegated to the end, for whatever reason. Andre could have benefitted from input, or even improvisation by the cast. The dialogue is wooden because none of the conversations between characters feels natural. Even the comedy feels like a stand-up comedian feeling around to see what works, only to find out that none of it does before it’s too late.
The post Film Review: “Running on Empty” appeared first on MediaMikes.
Commercials Cooperation Advertisements:
(1) IT Teacher IT Freelance
立刻註冊及報名電腦補習課程吧!
电子计算机 -教育 -IT 電腦班” ( IT電腦補習 ) 提供一個方便的电子计算机 教育平台, 為大家配對信息技术, 電腦 老師, IT freelance 和 programming expert. 讓大家方便地就能找到合適的電腦補習, 電腦班, 家教, 私人老師.
We are a education and information platform which you can find a IT private tutorial teacher or freelance.
Also we provide different information about information technology, Computer, programming, mobile, Android, apple, game, movie, anime, animation…
(2) ITSec
www.ITSeceu.uk
Secure Your Computers from Cyber Threats and mitigate risks with professional services to defend Hackers.
ITSec provide IT Security and Compliance Services, including IT Compliance Services, Risk Assessment, IT Audit, Security Assessment and Audit, ISO 27001 Consulting and Certification, GDPR Compliance Services, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), Penetration test, Ethical Hacking, Vulnerabilities scan, IT Consulting, Data Privacy Consulting, Data Protection Services, Information Security Consulting, Cyber Security Consulting, Network Security Audit, Security Awareness Training.
Contact us right away.
Email (Prefer using email to contact us):
SalesExecutive@ITSec.vip