Basically, the whole planet has recently gone to hell in a handbasket with worldwide floods, droughts, massive forest fires and new volcanoes in unexpected places filling the daily news bulletins. Incredibly, what most people, including the parents of Marty's students seem to be annoyed about the most is the internet slowly going down. "They shut down Porn Hub!" cries one distraught father in a one-to-one meeting with Anderson. He nods politely as he states that there's still a multitude of text and other books freely available in the school library. The useful advice seems to be falling on deaf ears during these tedious meetings with disillusioned parents.
On his way home, in yet another traffic jam, Marty notices a billboard displaying the message, "Charles Krantz: 39 Great Years! Thanks Chuck!" next to a picture of a seated middle-aged white man in a grey suit with glasses and short curly dark hair. In the following days, as worldwide disasters seem to escalate exponentially, this message seems to appear everywhere. Even on TV when no other channels seem to be broadcasting. "What does it all mean?" says Anderson to an older black man (Carl Lumbly), sitting on a bench in a deserted town centre one day, "...and who is Chuck?"
In the second act we meet Charles Krantz himself (Tom Hiddleston), as a disillusioned accountant dressed in the same grey suit 'playing hooky' from an accountants' business conference. We discover that his true love is dancing. As he passes a busking drummer on a street corner, he spontaneously breaks into a routine with moves akin to Christopher Walken's steps in Fat Boy Slim's 'Weapon of Choice' video. He encourages a young woman in the gathering crowd to join him and the performance goes on for a quite a while. This was much better than a stuffy conference!
In the first act (shown last), we meet the pre-highschool-age Charles Krantz (Benjamin Pajak). After the loss of his parents and unborn sibling in a car accident, he is now living with his beloved grandparents, an aged-up Mia Sara and Mark Hamill - the latter looking like a real life Geppetto. He's a thoughtful boy, constantly learning from his surroundings and actually taking advice from teachers, unlike almost all of his peers. One day, after a particularly disruptive class on the last day before the Summer recess, his 'hippy dippy' English teacher reminds him that between his ears is not just his brain but also everyone and everything he will collectively experience in life. "I contain multitudes", she quotes as she holds both his temples. He then discovers that there is an after-school dance group run by the gym teacher and soon he feels that he is fully in his element.
There are definitely some profound ideas being presented here in the guise of a 'Wonder Years' style narrative. Conflicting advice from his straight-talking, maths-promoting grandfather about what he should be concentrating on - compared with the sheer joy he finds from watching 20th Century musicals on Blockbuster video with his grandmother - and from the dance partner he eventually finds in the group. This leads to the way Chuck Krantz admirably tries to navigate from childhood to adulthood but ultimately it flies completely in the face of the very weird ending that comes surprisingly quickly in this 111 minute runtime.
Even though I watched this story intently, I left the cinema wondering if I may have missed the key message. But I suppose like the many other Science Fiction and/or Supernatural stories penned by Mr King, it's meant to be unconventional and slightly unsettling. Maybe another viewing might help? What I am clear about is that it's beautifully filmed with some great 90s needle-drops. All the acting is spot-on with some heavyweight names cast here. Hiddleston is all over the promotional materials and is quite engaging but I really have to champion Pajak for a beautifully heartwarming performance! Surprisingly rated as a (15), I think it's easily more like a (12A).
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