The Life of Chuck brings the Stephen King short story to the screen but the film continues a long-running practice of non-Jewish actors in Jewish roles.

First of all, I have to admit that I was hesitant to see the film because of Mike Flanagan and Stephen King. They are known for their work in the horror genre. I, on the other hand, am known for avoiding the horror genre like the plague, lest I get nightmares. Hell, I wouldn’t even watch E.T. until well into my teen years because the alien scared me.

Hollywood, we need to have a long talk again. Why is it so hard to cast Jewish actors in Jewish roles? Why is it that we have this whole push for authentic representation in film but this push somehow continues to keep glossing over Jews. We have this same talk every year and honestly, it’s starting to get frustrating. One of the younger versions of Charles “Chuck” Krantz–Benjamin Pajek–might be Jewish in real life, based on the last name, but I haven’t been able to confirm this in a Google search. I’d appreciate the Jewish representation in The Life of Chuck even more if the roles were played by Jewish actors.

I’m a proud Jew. When I watch a movie and there is Jewish representation, I automatically pay attention to who is being cast in those roles. Nothing against Mark Hamill, Mia Sara, or Tom Hiddleston but last I checked, neither one of them were Jewish and the film clearly establishes the Krantz family as Jewish. If Hollywood is going to whitewash Jewish roles, they may as well just remove the Judaism from the film. It would save us so much time every time something like this happens. It’s frustrating. The Life of Chuck isn’t the first film and sadly, it probably won’t be the last. Hollywood has a responsibility to do better by the Jewish community.

As for The Life of Chuck, it’s something of a weird genre-bender. Filmmaking Mike Flanagan has opted to change up the storytelling by telling it in reverse. The film is told in acts but it would have been beneficial for the audience to go in chronological order. Instead, what we think is a global catastrophe turns out to be something completely different once we learn the context behind it. That’s how we come to experience Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) in various stages of his life. There’s this running theme of 39 great years and we eventually understand what it means.

In the first act, Felicia (Kare Gillan) and Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are navigating their new reality. California is just about completely destroyed. The Wi-Fi goes dead. And all of a sudden, they start seeing or hearing advertisements thanking Chuck for “39 years of service.” Anyway, they were previously divorced and start getting back together as the world is coming to an end. That’s where The Life of Chuck offers more questions than answers.

The second act of The Life of Chuck is the one where we first meet Chuck and all of a sudden, he starts dancing as he approaches street drummer (Taylor Gordon, who composed the live drum score). It leads to one of the best pieces in the film as Chuck starts dancing with Janice (Annalise Basso). What Chuck doesn’t know is that he’s going to be dying in a few months. Interestingly, most of Hiddleston’s four of five days on set was spent on the dance.

And in the third act, which is really the first, we meet the younger version of Chuck (Benjamin Pajek) as he moves in with his grandparents–Sarah (Mia Sara) and Albie (Mark Hamill)–following the tragic death of his parents. This is where Chuck really begins his love of dance, especially when Sara starts teaching him and shows him all the classic musicals. Later on, Chuck joins one of those twirlers and spinners clubs–or class–in school and that’s where he takes it to the next level, even teaching others to do the moonwalk.

There’s a deeper meaning to The Life of Chuck, especially when it comes to love, loss, and as we come to understand, the multitudes that we contain. The latter of which came as news to me. But then again, I wasn’t really the type to read poetry growing up. Only what was required for school. But I digress.

While it is a genre-bender, it’s not a horror film. There are some elements where you might think it’ll go in that direction and that’s perfectly understandable. But to that point, it’s not a prison drama like The Shawshank Redemption either.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Mike Flanagan
NARRATOR: Nick Offerman
CAST: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, with Jacob Tremblay and Mark Hamill

NEON will release The Life of Chuck in theaters on June 6, 2025. Grade: 3.5/5

Please subscribe to Solzy on Buttondown and visit Dugout Dirt.