‘The Life of Chuck’ Review: Mike Flanagan’s Latest Stephen King Adaptation Fumbles Its Wistful Mysteries
variety.comSiddhant Adlakha Midway through its runtime, Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck” introduces a mantra of sorts, via a line of dialogue pulled from Stephen King‘s eponymous story: “Would answers make a good thing better?” The implication therein is an emphatic “No,” which suits “The Haunting of Bly Manor” creator’s esoteric (and esoterically structured) drama on embracing life, death and cosmic mysteries.
However, it also ends up proving this point in all the wrong ways, swerving in and out of a boorish literalism that robs the film of its most euphoric power.
Like King’s story — one of four novellas collected in the book “If It Bleeds” — “The Life of Chuck” is divided into three acts depicted in reverse, each narrated by Nick Offerman.
It kicks off with “Act Three,” which tells of the world falling apart from the perspective of a small American town. The internet has been on the fritz for months, and is on the verge of blacking out along with TV and cell service.
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