Hilarious, outgoing and always up for a good time, New Yorker Brittany Forgleris everybody's best friend -- except maybe her own. At 27, her hard-partying ways, chronic underemployment and toxic relationships are catching up with her, but when she stops by a new doctor's office to try to score some Adderall, she gets slapped with a prescription she never wanted: Get healthy. Too broke for a gym and too proud to ask for help, Brit is at a loss, until her seemingly together neighbor Catherine pushes her to lace up her Converse sneakers and run one sweaty block. The next day, she runs two. And soon, after finishing her first mile, she sets an almost unthinkable goal: running in the New York City Marathon.

Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, Micah Stock, Alice Lee DIRECTOR: Paul Downs Colaizzo CINEMATOGRAPHY: Seamus Tierney MUSIC: Duncan Thum PRODUCTION: Material Pictures, Picture Films

Box Office Performance

Brittany Runs a Marathon earned $7,189,808 domestically and $249,640 internationally, for a worldwide total of $7,439,448. The film skewed heavily domestic (97%), suggesting strong North American appeal.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

The story of Brittany was inspired by Colaizzo's roommate, Brittany O'Neill, who appears in photos before the end credits. The real life Brittany did not lose her parents at a young age, and had a more stable job than the character in the film. Colaizzo wanted to emphasize the inspirational side of the story and take what would usually be treated as a fat sidekick stock character and instead explore her feelings and perspective. The real life Brittany had gotten into running but it was after Colaizzo came up with the film concept that she was inspired to try the take on the New York marathon herself.

In November 2017, it was announced Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, Micah Stock and Alice Lee would star in the film, with Paul Downs Colaizzo directing from a screenplay he wrote. Tobey Maguire, Matthew Plouffe, Margot Hand, served as producers on the film, under their Material Pictures and Picture Films banners, respectively. Bell, Downs Colaizzo, and Richard Weinberg served as executive producers. Jolian Blevins and Padraic Murphy served as co-producer and associate producer, respectively.

▸ Filming & Locations

The film was the first non-documentary film to be shot at the New York Marathon. The production company went to the New York Road Runners, organizers of the marathon, to coordinate filming and to make sure that they did not get in the way of runners. Crew sizes were restricted and the film makers were not allowed to film on the Queensboro Bridge due to security concerns from the Department of Homeland Security. The film had no budget for visual effects to insert Bell into the race and depended on filming the marathon for real. The film was shot over 29 days. The climactic scene was filmed during the 2017 New York City Marathon, with three filming crews working simultaneously to cover various stages of the race.

[Filming] The film was the first non-documentary film to be shot at the New York Marathon. The production company went to the New York Road Runners, organizers of the marathon, to coordinate filming and to make sure that they did not get in the way of runners. Crew sizes were restricted and the film makers were not allowed to film on the Queensboro Bridge due to security concerns from the Department of Homeland Security. The film had no budget for visual effects to insert Bell into the race and depended on filming the marathon for real. The film was shot over 29 days. The climactic scene was filmed during the 2017 New York City Marathon, with three filming crews working simultaneously to cover various stages of the race.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 2 wins & 7 nominations total

Awards Won: ★ Sundance Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic

! scope="row"| Casting Society of America

! scope="row"| GLAAD Media Award

! scope="row"| Hollywood Critics Association

! scope="row"| São Paulo International Film Festival

! scope="row"| Satellite Awards

! scope="row" rowspan="2"| Sundance Film Festival

CRITICAL RECEPTION

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 89% based on 191 reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Brittany Runs a Marathon is an earnest and hilarious dramedy that finally gives Jillian Bell a role worthy of her gifts." On Metacritic, the film had a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Dennis Harvey of Variety magazine wrote, "This terrifically engaging debut feature by playwright Paul Downs Colaizzo is the best kind of "crowdpleaser": one that earns every emotional beat that might seem formulaic in four out of five similar enterprises."