Brittany Runs A Marathon

It has a lot going for it, largely because it’s so pertinent.

While it perhaps attempts to cover too many modern maladies and malaises, as well as shoehorning in traditional Hollywood rom-com tropes, it's hard not to like this transformative tale of self-empowerment.

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

Humor ends up being replaced by a cloying earnestness as the finish line comes into view. Do the self-deprecating remarks really need to vanish along with the weight? It's hard to imagine why.

Colaizzo successfully walks a fine line between inspiration and caution, never presenting Brittany as a patronizing role model for weight loss, nor a clichéd case of inner beauty.

Jillian Bell is a comic force of nature with real dramatic chops in this hilarious and heartfelt tale...

Bell imbues Brittany with humanity and wit, but all too frequently she is working within the framework of a story that seems hellbent on robbing her character of joy.

"Brittany" not only goes places you won't be expecting but it also manages to be simultaneously sympathetic and unsentimental, a picture with a laugh-out-loud sense of humor that can be as real as hell when it needs to be.

Brittany is as uplifting as it is hilarious – to say it makes you laugh and cry feels like a cliché, but is perfectly apt for this finely balanced dramedy that, if there was any justice in Hollywood, would launch Bell into a plethora of leading roles.