Brittany Runs a Marathon
Brittany Forgler (Jillian Bell) is a 28-year-old living in New York City with her roommate Gretchen (Alice Lee). Gretchen is a teacher's assistant dreaming of social media fame. Gretchen makes Instagram videos pitching the idea that anyone can have an extravagant lifestyle in any space. She posts these videos regularly in the hope that one of them would go viral. Employed as a greeter at an off-Broadway theater, Brittany is a hard party girl, overweight, and abuses Adderall. Her boss Shannon (Jennifer Dundas) complains that Brittany is late everyday and hence Shannon has to do her job as well. Visiting a new Doctor Falloway (Patch Darragh) to score a prescription for Adderall, she receives unwelcome news; she must get healthy and lose weight. Her BMI is 32, while a healthy BMI is 25. He asks Brittany to lose between 45 and 55 pounds. Brittany sees a woman Martha in her building, who goes for regular runs and is inspired. Brittany visits a nearby gym only to find even the cheapest fee ($129 per month) is out of her reach. Brittany has no option but to start running outside. Despite her fear, she tries running for the first time, successfully running one block. She is invited to run in a group with her neighbor Catherine (Michaela Watkins) (whom Brittany used to refer to as Money Bags Martha), whom Brittany detests for her seemingly perfect life. Catherine reveals her own story and says that at the age of 23, she was a heroin addict. Sucked into another night of partying by Gretchen, Brittany arrives for the group run and meets Seth (Micah Stock), another struggling runner, learning they have equal goals. Seth wants to get healthy as otherwise his kid would judge him. Within a few weeks, one step at a time, Brittany has lost 22 pounds and is at 184 pounds. Her goal weight is 152 pounds. Brittany, Seth, and Catherine bond and, after a 5K run, set the ultimate goal: running in the New York City Marathon. The city Marathon (which is a 26-mile course) is an annual event, sponsored by TCS, and 50,000 people from all over the world participate. Catherine says that she trained for the marathon 4 years ago, but then she got pregnant. And now her ex-husband is dragging her through court for a custody battle for their child. Seth reveals that her cousin literally defecated in her pants from the exhaustion of running the marathon. It is grueling. As a previous runner, Catherine is guaranteed a spot, but Seth and Brittany have to enter a lottery. If they don't get selected, then they have to raise money to enter. Catherine also suggests joining a gym to accelerate their fitness. Interviewing for a live-in nanny position, Brittany instead gets a second job as a pet sitter to afford her gym membership. On her first day, she meets fellow pet sitter Jern (Utkarsh Ambudkar), who is essentially living in the house against the rules. After a falling out with Gretchen over her changing lifestyle, Brittany moves into the house as well, bonding with Jern over their stalled lives. Seth and Catherine's predictions that Brittany will have sex and fall in love with Jern eventually come true. Brittany gets within five pounds of her goal of losing 45 pounds. Unable to win a place in the marathon through a lottery, as Seth does, her only hope is to raise enough money for a charity. At Catherine's divorce party, she informs Brittany that she often raises a lot of money for a favorite charity and offers to have $5000 donated in her name so Brittany can run in the marathon. Brittany's pride, and continued reluctance to let Catherine into her life, force her to turn down the offer, and she leaves. She regains weight, forcing her to run even harder, until one of her ankles becomes too painful to walk on. Five weeks from the marathon, her doctor informs her she has a stress fracture and will be unable to run for six to eight weeks, and the damage may be permanent. Dejected, Brittany returns to the dog-sitting house and discusses the state of her life with Jern. The homeowners return and, disgusted Jern and Brittany have been living there, fire them. Brittany takes a bus to Philadelphia to visit her sister Cici (Kate Arrington) and brother-in-law Demetrius (Lil Rel Howery), who was a father figure to Brittany after their parents' divorce and father's death. She ignores calls and texts from Catherine, Seth, and Jern, saddened to see Seth and Catherine with their marathon medals. That same day, she disrupts Demetrius's birthday party by making comments about an overweight female guest. After a stern but heartfelt talk with Demetrius, Brittany returns to New York and her former apartment, now alone as Gretchen is living with her on-and-off boyfriend Terrence. Brittany continues exercising but stops tracking her weight loss. She applies for advertising jobs, for which she trained initially, and lands an entry-level position in Tribeca. She reconnects with her friends. Catherine reveals that running was a distraction from her nasty divorce, explaining that years ago, she broke her wrist and was prescribed Oxycodone, which her husband did not believe she should have. He discovered she was taking it anyway, using that fact to deny her visitation rights to their children. Brittany encourages her to take small steps to win her children back and sets boundaries with Jern to simply be friends. One year later, Brittany runs in the marathon. At the 22-mile mark, she develops a cramp and has to pause. She rejects medical assistance but accepts an assistant's offer to help her up. While considering quitting, she finds Seth, his husband and sons, and Catherine in the crowd cheering her on. She also encounters Jern, who says he loves her. She then keeps going, finishing the marathon. Brittany and Jern are now living together as a couple, but she does not want to marry him despite his suggestion. She kisses him and leaves the house to go on a run.
Read more →
