Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)

[steve jaros]

Title: Brittany Runs a Marathon

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Paul Downs Colaizzo

Cast: Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Micah Stock, Utkarsh Ambudkar, LilRel Howery, Alice Lee, Jennifer Dundas, Patch Darragh, Erica Hernandez, Adam Sietz, Dan Bittner, Mikey Day, Kate Arrington, Beth Malone, Esteban Benito, Nadia Quinn, Juri Henley-Cohn, Peter Vack, Pascal Yen-Pfister, Miriam A. Hyman, Gene Gabriel, Max Pava, Gina Costigan, Sarah Bolt, Ian Unterman, Robert Garcia Cabrera, Maia Nkenge Wilson, Frances Eve

Release: 2019-08-23

Runtime: 103

Plot: A young woman decides to make positive changes in her life by training for the New York City Marathon.

 

[steve jaros]

Saw this film today and recommend it. It's a cutting comedy, light hearted in some parts but darker in others. Overall, I was entertained.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I thought it was okay but it felt like an Amy Schumer movie without Amy Schumer.

I thought it sent a mixed message about body types as well.

I honestly would've liked it more if

Spoiler

Brittany DIDN'T run the marathon at the end. Running became her obsessive way to "fix herself" and an ending without the marathon would've allowed us to see that she's moved on and doesn't need the marathon...

 

[steve jaros]

I thought it was okay but it felt like an Amy Schumer movie without Amy Schumer.

I thought it sent a mixed message about body types as well.

FWIW, as someone who has been both fit and morbidly obese in my life, I liked the mixed message in BRAM about body types. I am generally against the new effort to convert "fat" in to "body positive". Because being fat isn't healthy, it just isn't in a factual, medical sense.

On the other hand, people who are fat shouldn't be discriminated against in the workplace and other aspects of public life (and I know that they often are) and should be able to be happy if they choose to be that way, so if the BP movement is reducing the former and helping with the latter, then it is doing some good.

But IMO, the embracement and celebration of being obese that some of the Body Positive stuff seems to advocate these days is IMO silly. It's like celebrating cigarette smoking or drinking too much.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

FWIW, as someone who has been both fit and morbidly obese in my life, I liked the mixed message in BRAM about body types. I am generally against the new effort to convert "fat" in to "body positive". Because being fat isn't healthy, it just isn't in a factual, medical sense.

On the other hand, people who are fat shouldn't be discriminated against in the workplace and other aspects of public life (and I know that they often are) and should be able to be happy if they choose to be that way, so if the BP movement is reducing the former and helping with the latter, then it is doing some good.

But IMO, the embracement and celebration of being obese that some of the Body Positive stuff seems to advocate these days is IMO silly. It's like celebrating cigarette smoking or drinking too much.

I felt the movie wanted it both ways. It wanted us to applaud and celebrate Brittany's growth but also make sure we know All Bodies Are Great!!!

I agree that fat shaming = bad but Obesity Is Awesome!!! is counterproductive. It's too much of a shift in the opposite direction, like an attempt to compensate for all those years of negativity toward overweight people.

And while I was never morbidly obese, I was always heavy until I lost the weight 20 years ago, so I have some perspective on that side, too!

 

[WillG]

FWIW, as someone who has been both fit and morbidly obese in my life, I liked the mixed message in BRAM about body types. I am generally against the new effort to convert "fat" in to "body positive". Because being fat isn't healthy, it just isn't in a factual, medical sense.

On the other hand, people who are fat shouldn't be discriminated against in the workplace and other aspects of public life (and I know that they often are) and should be able to be happy if they choose to be that way, so if the BP movement is reducing the former and helping with the latter, then it is doing some good.

But IMO, the embracement and celebration of being obese that some of the Body Positive stuff seems to advocate these days is IMO silly. It's like celebrating cigarette smoking or drinking too much.

While I would agree that people should be treated with all due respect, modern culture/media seems to be pushing this movement slightly too far.

I mean....

Spoiler

Really?

And, look, I’m not exactly my high school weight these days either, but I understand I shouldn’t be waiting for my phone to ring with male modeling offers.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

While I would agree that people should be treated with all due respect, modern culture/media seems to be pushing this movement slightly too far.

I mean....

Spoiler

Really?

And, look, I’m not exactly my high school weight these days either, but I understand I shouldn’t be waiting for my phone to ring with male modeling offers.

I weigh less than I did in HS! I was a big boy back then!

I agree that we seem to have gone from "don't shame morbidly obese people" to "actively celebrate morbidly obese people".

I think we need to find a middle ground. Celebrating body types that are indicative of severely unhealthy lifestyle choices seems like a bad idea to me.

And yeah, I'm aware there are some medical conditions that make it much harder for people to avoid being overweight, but I don't believe that's true for the vast majority of severely overweight people, and I don't think that these medical conditions can account for extreme obesity...