‘Running on Empty’ (2024) Movie Review - Daniel André’s Dull Comedy

In the world of writer-director Daniel André's Running on Empty, characters can find out exactly when they will die. Something known as LDC (Life Day Count) tells you how many mortal days you have remaining. This prediction is done using...science, which is just the movie's way of saying, "Don't worry about logic." What matters is that the data is 97.9% accurate, and the "estimate is based on your body's natural decline from age or disease." Can't you figure out the cause of your death if it's related to disease? Can't you run tests to get a diagnosis? Unless it's something as serious as cancer, you should be able to cure yourself through early medical treatment, right? Naturally, you will start eating healthy food and exercise regularly for physical fitness in hopes of averting a fatal crisis. In such a case, a person who was about to die from, say, a heart attack on his death day would probably end up living longer than the predicted date. The more you think about this LDC concept, the more holes you find in it. And it's difficult to accept Running on Empty as a "sweet rom-com" or "harmless piece of entertainment" because it's terribly made.

André is neither a good writer nor a good director. He has shot this film so impersonally that you never understand how to respond to it. Are we supposed to find Uncle Barry's (Jim Gaffigan) pervy comments amusing? He hits on Mortimer's (Keir Gilchrist) mom and expresses his sexual interest in female dead bodies. Mortimer is a mortician (I am sure André named this character Mortimer because of his profession). He has an ex-fiancée named Nicole (Francesca Eastwood). She broke up with him due to his LDC. Barry confesses that he used to be turned on by Nicole's body but kept his lust in check because of her relationship with his nephew. I don't know why Mortimer and his family are still in touch with Barry. Then again, except for the mother, everybody else looks comically repulsive. I wish I could say that I sympathized with Mortimer's ordeal. In the hands of Gilchrist, this character seems sad, irritated, and gloomy from the beginning. Nothing changes after he learns that he only has 365 days to live. He continues giving the same expressions. The only good thing that comes out of this one-note performance is that we find a story about Mortimer's reaction to a woman screaming from a casket convincing.

Since Mortimer has one year or less to live, he joins a dating service, Till Death Do Us Part (of course), that matches individuals according to their LDC. Only three girls show interest in him. One turns out to be a cynic, the second merely wants a one-night stand, and the third is revealed to be a thief. Mortimer also comes across a prostitute (Leslie Stratton) who meets her maker before giving him a free blowjob, which only stirs up more trouble for the mortician as her pimp (Rhys Coiro) starts harassing him for a ridiculous amount of money. Amidst all this ugliness, Mortimer discovers a ray of hope in Kate (Lucy Hale). Kate arrived in LA with dreams of becoming an actor or a director but is now stuck recording videos of clients who come to Till Death Do Us Part. That's all we are told about her. Kate basically exists to uplift Mortimer's mood, but Lucy Hale continues her streak of working in bad films. I don't think that, since Pretty Little Liars, I have seen her in any good show or movie. Kate and Mortimer's "Goodbye. So long. Farewell. Au revoir" routine is meant to be sweet and pleasing, but it comes across as inert and embarrassing. The actors have no spark, no chemistry. When Mortimer and Kate silently look at each other for more than five seconds, you feel a bit uneasy. You don't see the romance in their eyes that renders their goodbye meaningless, that convinces us that they want to remain in each other's presence.

What a depressing world we see in Running on Empty. When characters get to know about their LDC, they don't display any desire to defy death or live the remainder of their life happily (except for that old woman, but we can leave her out of this discussion). No one tries to challenge the science; they just accept their fate passively. If there is an optimist, André doesn't bother putting a spotlight on him. He is solely interested in presenting a dull story that neither challenges nor excites the audience. The person administering the tests and providing the LDC mentions that death cannot be predicted in cases of murder, suicide, or accidents. (Spoilers, if you care, start from here) Mortimer dies in an accident on the day he was supposed to travel to Japan to scale Mount Fuji. It's unlikely he planned the trip for the day of his demise, considering he had 365 days to choose from. Could he have been saved from dying? We will never know, and I'm not bothered by it. Running on Empty concludes with what looks like a collection of additional scenes that the director, unable to integrate into the narrative, assembled for the ending. It all comes with Mortimer's words where he says things like, "After finding out my death day, every day seems to matter more. Every encounter seems more important." Well, the whole film and Mortimer's sullen expression tell a different story. (Spoilers end here)

Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times