Warning: SPOILERS are ahead for The Life of Chuck.
The Life of Chuck debuted in June as one of the earliest summer installments in the 2025 movie schedule. Despite being based on a work by Stephen King – a.k.a. the Master of Horror – and adapted for the big screen by writer/director Mike Flanagan of The Haunting of Hill House and Haunting of Bly Manor fame, the film definitely doesn’t belong in the horror genre.
With an all-star cast including (but not limited to) Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill (in his latest of multiple Stephen King adaptations), Carl Lumbly, Kate Siegel and Mia Sara, the movie is an emotional ride across three acts. I was in tears by the end of my first viewing. Then, when I accidentally saw it for a second time, I found a lot more to laugh about.
How I Saw The Life Of Chuck Twice By Accident
It’s honestly hard to see a movie twice by accident nowadays, especially when that movie technically hadn’t been widely released yet. In my case, I had the opportunity to view an early screener ahead of a press conference for The Life of Chuck, and I knew just enough about the team behind the film to want to watch it that first time. Considering that I was well into a box of tissues by the time the credits rolled on Nick Offerman‘s final lines of narration, it’s honestly probably for the best that I was able to watch it at home.
The second time I saw The Life of Chuck could hardly have been more unintentional. On a rainy evening while on vacation, I found myself staying near a Regal Cinemas that was offering a $5 Monday Mystery Movie for an early screening of an upcoming release without the title revealed ahead of time. I sat down, abuzz with speculation about what it could be… until the familiar opening to The Life of Chuck started playing.
I’d loved the movie when I watched it the first time, and I definitely wasn’t mad, so I settled in to view it for the second time. This time, though, I was with an audience, and that made all the difference.
Why It Was Easier To Laugh Out Loud The Second Time
The Life of Chuck certainly isn’t a comedy, but there are funny moments that didn’t really hit me as hard until I was sitting in a packed theater. I knew I was going to be in for a fun ride when the audience around me cracked up during the exchange between Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Marty Anderson and David Dastmalchian’s Josh that switched between Josh’s regret about his wife leaving, Marty trying to stay on topic, and both men agreeing that Pornhub going down was one of the worst losses of the world falling apart. (Fun fact: the second track of the movie’s official soundtrack from The Newton Brothers is called “Fuckin Porn Hub.”)
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Everybody in the theater laughed, and I knew I was in a good crowd. There were also smaller moments that I didn’t really appreciate for their humor the first time, like 11-year-old Chuck (Benjamin Pajak) trying to get gossip out of the meddling Vera (Heather Langenkamp), Miss Rohrbacher’s (Midnight Mass’ excellent Samantha Sloyan) commentary as the moderator of the Twirlers and Spinners club, the running gag of nobody knowing who Chuck was during Act 3, and the first moments of adult Chuck dancing before it was clear he knew what he was doing.
Even 8th grader Cat kicking off her heels to dance with young Chuck while still more or less towering over him was funny in a very endearing way. It was a great crowd and it was well worth the $5 price tag.
The Life Of Chuck Should Be Seen More Than Once
The format of The Life of Chuck is such that it really deserves to be watched twice, especially if you go in unspoiled about who Chuck is and what he has to do with the world of Marty and Felicia (Karen Gillan) ending around them. There are clues about Act 1 throughout Act 3 and Act 2 that are fun to catch in a second watch. Did knowing the end mean that I actually cried a little extra by the end of Act 3? Yes, but I also laughed more while aware of how the story would end. .
For example, knowing that the world of Marty and Felicia was part of the multitudes within Chuck made the Pornhub joke hit even harder for me. The idea that even some tiny corner of his dying brain had even a modicum of focus on Pornhub is just funny to me. Knowing the truth that his grandparents didn’t want him to learn made Chuck’s attempt to charm gossip out of Vera funnier, albeit in a fairly dark way.
So many little details are more amusing when viewed through the lens of everything happening within his multitudes. Even that conversation between Marty and Gus (Matthew Lillard) about the imminent end of the world had room for some laughs on second viewing, when I knew that they weren’t actually heading towards an apocalypse to turn The Life of Chuck into a story more in line with what I’d normally expect from Stephen King.
It Was Also Sadder The Second Time
As I’ve alluded to a few times, getting an early viewing of The Life of Chuck didn’t mean that I could just turn off the waterworks when I sat down for my second watch. I’d gone into the film entirely unspoiled other than half-watching the star-studded trailer in my local theater before an anniversary screening of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and knowing that both Mike Flanagan and Stephen King were involved. Like CinemaBlend’s Riley Utley in her own viewing, there were tears.
The first time around, the moment that really got me was at the very end of the film, when Chuck entered the locked room that fortunately was a lot less haunted than the locked red room in Mike Flanagan’s Hill House. The second time, the first moment that got me was at the end of Act 3, when Marty and Felicia sat with each other for the end of the world. This time, I knew that it was Chuck dying, making it all the more beautifully tragic to watch the stars go out.
But this is a feature about why View #2 was funnier, not sadder! The same reasons why my Regal night out was sadder than my streaming night in also apply to the comedy of The Life of Chuck. Knowing the ending and that the entire movie was playing out through Chuck’s memories and multitudes added an extra layer to the lighter moments, making it easier to laugh as much as easier to cry.
So on the whole, I’d highly recommend seeing The Life of Chuck at least twice, even if you do it deliberately rather than by accident like I did. The laughs hit harder, and there’s a different sense of catharsis by the end. Well done, Mike Flanagan!