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Every four years, runners from around the globe come together to compete in the Olympic marathon. They’re the best of the best—the strongest, the most determined. But the mockumentary Marathon isn’t about those runners. It’s about a bunch of misfits competing in a race through the desert.
Marathon follows a group of amateur runners in the months leading up to the Devil’s Canyon Marathon. Ryan (Andrew Hansen) is a single-minded runner who missed the Boston Marathon qualifying time by just nine seconds. Jenna (Natalie Sullivan) is trying to break the record for the fastest marathon dressed as fruit. Shareef (Tavius Cortez) is determined to finish, despite the constant harassment of his sister—as well as police offers who are suspicious of any African American man who’s running. And as race day approaches, they (along with their fellow competitors) prepare themselves for the mental and physical challenges to come.
For the three months leading up to the race, the characters are faced with all kinds of challenges and distractions—from injuries to relationship issues. Some cave under the pressure, while others just become more determined to finish the race. The problem, however, is that the characters all seem to be pretty one-note—from the tired stay-at-home mom who desperately wants a little bit of her own life back to the single girl whose life starts going her way as soon as she gives up after realizing how far a marathon is. The characters get all of the development they need in the first 10 minutes or so, and they don’t really grow or change at all through the film.
The result, then, just isn’t particularly funny. Most of the characters may be quirky—and they do show comic potential—but they’re not really laugh-out-loud quirky. They’re simply odd—or just downright annoying. Ryan’s scowling and constant verbal abuse of the cameraman get old quickly. Jenna’s story gets caught up in drama involving her romance with a paid placement actor in a banana costume. The only truly likable character is Shareef, even though neither of his ongoing storylines—regarding sibling rivalry and systemic racism—actually earn any laughs. Clearly, the ideas are there, but they aren’t developed into anything worthy of a full-length film.
Though this distance-running mockumentary promises Christopher Guest-style laughs, it doesn’t really deliver. The runners competing in this ill-advised desert marathon may have their quirks, but that’s just not enough to keep viewers laughing (or even hold their attention) for an hour and a half.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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