Running on Empty Review | Quirky Death-Centric Rom-Com Loses Its Way

Summary

• Running on Empty
  aims to be a celebration of life amid uncertainty and has a stacked cast, but struggles with its scattered narrative and unclear direction.
• The film successfully borrows from successful comedy-dramas, with quirky characters and a valiantly oddball effort at storytelling. It’s just too all over the place.
• Lucy Hale is excellent, but sadly her role is buried at the end.

If someone could tell you for a fact precisely when you’ll die, and you couldn’t alter fate, would you want to know? It’s an old hypothetical that has surely sparked some interesting conversations over the years, and has been the narrative backbone of numerous films in some way or another, be it Cléo from 5 to 7 to Eternity and a Day. We can add Running on Empty (2024) to that list, and while it’s nowhere near as good or important as those older masterpieces, this newer movie’s stacked cast holds its own in laying out a promising foundation from the get-go.

From writer-director Daniel André, the relentlessly quirky romantic comedy throws a whole lot at the proverbial wall of cinematic tropes, with some things sticking and other bits dropping dead to the ground. But it’s indeed a valiantly oddball effort, which is always commendable in this day and age.

Running on Empty Wishes Keir Gilchrist an Unhappy Death Day

Running on Empty

2.5/5

Keir Gilchrist, Lucy Hale, Francesca Eastwood and comic legend Jim Gaffigan star in a brilliantly quirky romantic comedy about celebrating life and living it to its fullest. Mortimer is an odd but clever young man living a lukewarm existence in California’s San Fernando Valley until he receives some life-changing news. Determined to make the most of every day, Mort sets out on a spirited quest to find meaning in his existence and discovers the girl of his dreams along the way.

Release Date August 9, 2024

Director Daniel André

Runtime 1h 31m

Writers Daniel André

Distributor(s) Lionsgate

Pros

• It’s nice to see a group of very talented actors working together. Lucy Hale is excellent; Francesca Eastwood and Rhys Coiro are delightful.
• The premise and ultimate direction and themes are interesting and admirable.

Cons

• The movie feels scattered and unclear about where it wants to go and what it wants to do.
• Keir Gilchrist is given a flat, awkward character and can’t deliver. Meanwhile, the best direction the film takes doesn’t happen until the last 20 minutes.

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Returning to the “here’s when you’ll die” trope for just a moment, that subgenre also includes the dramedy 50/50 (2011), where lead Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a falling-out with his girlfriend amid his life-threatening cancer diagnosis, leading to their permanent breakup. In Running on Empty, a similar severing occurs after a millennial mortician named, well, Mort (Keir Gilchrist) tries to buy a house with the love of his life, Nicole (Francesca Eastwood). This requires them to take a futuristic test that determines their literal future death dates — for insurance’s sake, of course. And when Mort’s demise turns out to be less than a year off, Nicole jumps ship at the dreaded thought, in a similarly messy breakup as 50/50. Ouch.

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If you haven’t already assumed, it’s clear that Lionsgate’s new offering — with a title that mistakenly suggests a film about motor vehicles, a remake of the River Phoenix movie, or a Jackson Browne documentary — borrows and/or pays homage to past successful comedy-dramas in an effort to keep up its own pizzazz. Some of it works, such as bit parts by celebrated character actors like Rhys Coiro (Entourage). Here he’s a wannabe gangster and pimp named Simon; he throws our hero’s life for a whirl once Mort ultimately turns to strip clubs and sex workers during his ‘life after ex.’

And on that note, in a sort of comic neo-noir fashion, the one sex worker he takes a liking to has — by miraculous coincidence — her own looming death day shortly after meeting Mort. This leads him into a chaotic spiral across California’s San Fernando Valley, running from the deceased’s employers who want Mort to pay for what they think he did to her. Mort finds himself seeking existential guidance from his somewhat loving uncle Barry (a reliably comical Jim Gaffigan) and bombastic pal Sid (Jay Pharoah, doing much with limited screen time) but ultimately turns to a professional dating service to find true love in the limited days he has left.

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Lucy Hale & Francesca Eastwood Deserve Better

Ironically, it’s the person who actually runs that dating service, a bright and down-to-earth soul named Kate (Lucy Hale), who Mort finds himself drawn to. The fact that this comes so darn late in the film is supremely odd and disappointing. We last spoke with Hale amid the release of another offbeat romantic movie of hers, Which Brings Me to You, which gave the talented young star a meatier role. Hale still owns the screen and reminds us that Running on Empty is trying, at the end of the day, to be a celebration of life amid perpetual uncertainty (or ironic certainty, in this case, given the death-date component). It’s too bad this branding gets so muddled along the way.

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Gilchrist, meanwhile, feels weirdly restricted the whole time (aside from a few scenes of pure overacting). He looks just as befuddled as most viewers likely will, as they scratch their heads at certain plot developments that end up going nowhere. It seems as though some scenes, such as bringing back Nicole randomly, are merely set up for a comedic punch, and then we move on with no follow-up. The comedy doesn’t serve the narrative.

The British-Canadian Gilchrist is certainly talented and has proven his chops via the hit Netflix series Atypical as well as acclaimed films like It Follows. He plays the confused stiff solidly enough here, but it often leaves us wanting more from the versatile performer. He indeed brings some heart and comedic timing, at least, but Running on Empty seems plagued by an unspoken resignation that this uneven ensemble is a bit all over the place. From Lionsgate, Running on Empty is now playing in theaters.

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