• Comedy
• Romance

Running on Empty 2024

Running on Empty (Mort in Sherman Oaks) 2024 is a sci‑fi romantic comedy written and directed by Daniel André, starring Keir Gilchrist and Lucy Hale, released August 9, 2024, and running 91 minutes.🎬 Plot overview Set in a near‐future Los Angeles, mortician Mort (Gilchrist) learns he has under a year to live via a "Life Day Count" test. Meanwhile his fiancée Nicole (Francesca Eastwood) has many more healthy years left, so she breaks up with him. Mort joins a short‐term matchmaking service for people with similar death dates and meets videographer Kate (Lucy Hale), while being pressured by a pimp named Simon (Rhys Coiro). The film explores Mort’s existential push to live purposefully in his dwindling days.🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Cast & Performances Lucy Hale as Kate brings warmth and charm and is frequently cited as the film’s standout performer. Her chemistry with Gilchrist is one of the few consistently praised elements. Keir Gilchrist portrays Mort with a quietly awkward charm, though many reviews felt his performance felt flat or underwritten. Supporting cast includes Jim Gaffigan (Barry), Monica Potter (Elaine), Jay Pharoah (Sid), and Rhys Coiro (Simon).📝 Critics Rotten Tomatoes: 16–17% approval from critics, indicating largely negative reviews. RogerEbert.com critic Monica Castillo described the film as having “almost nothing to savor” past its premise and compared it to "a funeral that drags on in the summer heat". Screen Rant felt the film lacked humor and cohesion, though acknowledged it had decent chemistry between leads and praised Hale’s performance. Other critics called it quirkily ambitious but tonally inconsistent and underdeveloped as both a rom‑com and a dark comedy.🌟 Conclusion Running on Empty (2024) is an ambitious indie sci-fi rom-com that blends themes of mortality, love, and existential urgency. While its premise—matching people by their projected death dates—is imaginative and potentially rich, the execution falls short. Critics largely agree that despite Lucy Hale’s standout performance and some heartfelt moments, the film struggles with tone, pacing, and emotional depth. It’s a curious watch for fans of offbeat, darkly romantic storytelling, but most viewers may find it underwhelming. Verdict: Great idea, weak delivery—worth a watch only if you’re drawn to quirky, melancholic love stories with a sci-fi twist. Read More

• 2024
• 1 h : 31 min
• 288 views
• 5.038
• R