Screened as part of NZIFF 2019

Brittany Runs a Marathon 2019

Directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo Fresh

Jillian Bell (Workaholics, Rough Night) stars in this Audience Award-winning Sundance comedy about a New York slacker who takes up running in the hopes of getting her life back on track.

USA In English
104 minutes DCP

Director/Screenplay

Producers

Matthew Plouffe
,
Tobey Maguire
,
Margot Hand

Photography

Seamus Tierney

Editors

Casey Brooks
,
Peter Teschner

Production designer

Erin Magill

Costume designer

Stacey Berman

Music

Duncan Thum

With

Jillian Bell (Brittany)
,
Michaela Watkins (Catherine)
,
Utkarsh Ambudkar (Jern)
,
Micah Stock (Seth)

Festivals

Sundance
,
Seattle
,
Sydney 2019

Awards

Audience Award
,
Sundance Film Festival 2019

Elsewhere

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH

The Edge

This charming debut feature from playwright Paul Downs Colaizzo features a winning performance from Jillian Bell as Brittany, a sharp-tongued, hard-partying twentysomething whose lifestyle choices are catching up with her. When a visit to a doctor to score drugs turns sour, she decides to take up running and pursue a wild dream of running the New York Marathon.

“An endearing and earnest comedy about self-acceptance and body positivity that sidesteps cheesy pitfalls, Brittany Runs a Marathon is based on the journey of a real-life friend of Colaizzo, whom Bell plays with a deft blend of sincerity and slapstick. Tired of being invisible and unable to afford a gym, Brittany decides to take it to the streets, running one city block at a time to build up her stamina… Along the way, she befriends Catherine (Michaela Watkins), a jogging obsessive, as well as fellow rookie Seth (Micah Stock), eventually persuading both to train with her for the annual 26-mile city marathon. Meanwhile, her new house-sitting gig introduces her to Jern (Utkarsh Ambudkar), a lovable troublemaker who convinces Brittany to move into the fancy digs they’re supposed to be taking care of in shifts.

Colaizzo successfully walks a fine line between inspiration and caution, never presenting Brittany as a patronizing role model for weight loss, nor a clichéd case of inner beauty… His film delivers where other admirable efforts on body image like I Feel Pretty fall short, gifting a rare amount of empathy to anyone in an abusive relationship with their bathroom scale.” — Tomris Laffly, Time Out