A film named the “best movie of the year” with 80% on Rotten Tomatoes is coming to Netflix next month. The Life of Chuck is a 2024 American fantasy drama film written for the screen, co-produced, edited, and directed by Mike Flanagan. 

It is based on the 2020 novella of the same name by Stephen King. The film stars Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, and Mark Hamill, with narration by Nick Offerman. The film’s plot follows the formative moments in the life of Charles “Chuck” Krantz, chronicled in reverse chronological order, from his death coinciding with the end of the universe to his childhood. The Life of Chuck had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024, where it won the People’s Choice Award. It was released in select theatres in the United States by Neon on June 6, 2025, before expanding nationwide on June 13. The film has grossed $19 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews.

On Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 290 critics’ reviews are positive. The website’s consensus reads: “Showing a sweeter side of director Mike Flanagan’s deeply-felt emotional register, The Life of Chuck is a buoyant and often wonderful adaptation of one of Stephen King’s more cosmically optimistic tales.”

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating “generally favorable” reviews.

The Life of Chuck was named the “Best Movie of 2025” by The Boston Globe, USA Today, and The Washington Post.

Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com awarded the film four out of four stars. Seitz described the film as a “great example of popular cinema’s ability to speak to the life experiences of a large cross-section of viewers without dumbing anything down”.

Thomas Floyd of The Washington Post praised the plot as containing “love, grief and a dash of the supernatural”, while also lauding the acting of Mia Sara and Mark Hamill.

According to What’s On Netflix, The Life of Chuck is coming to the streamer in January 2026.