Wherever Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) goes, he can’t get away from Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston). His face is showing up on billboards, window signs — even TV commercials. What’s so special about this seemingly ordinary accountant and why does he warrant such a sendoff?

Their connection includes Marty’s ex-wife (Karen Gillan), her co-worker, his neighbour,and just about everyone else they know. Chuck’s life story soon begins to unravel in front of us, going back to a childhood with grandfather Albie (Mark Hamill), who teaches him about accounting and passes on a love for dancing, all the while keeping him from a prophetic secret in the attic.

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The Life of Chuck has one of the strangest narrative constructions that you’ll see this year. Played from the end of Chuck’s life to the start, beginning in Act Three no less, it starts slowly, reeling you in through the oddity of the narrative’s construct, the mystery around who this Chuck really is, and also an impending apocalypse. 

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But if you’re patient with the narrative you begin to see little signposts of where we’re headed. And with the way in which it's constructed, you’ve really got to land your ending, or in the case of The Life of Chuck, the beginning. And it absolutely does in every way. The ending is perfection. 

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What truly makes The Life of Chuck transcend from good to great are its themes. For a film that is about life, death, and the universe you’d think that it could explore these big ideas in a grand way. But what makes this film truly beautiful is it explores the small, every day events of Chuck’s life, the ones that connected him to beauty, creativity, and great people. It will send you out into the world, not unlike 2013’s About Time, with a new zest for and appreciation of the small, glorious things that we experience everyday but just ignore in our busyness. 

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Mark Hamill is a standout as Chuck’s grandfather as is Nick Offerman’s narration, but this film belongs to Tom Hiddleston. His heart and soul is poured out here, in small, subtle ways, which seeps into the very fabric of the film. 

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Life affirming, fantastical and just down right beautiful, The Life of Chuck is a love letter to the small moments in our lives that make our world truly wondrous. One of the best films of 2025.