Don't Mess With Taxes

There's no indication that the movie's lead character is a tax accountant, but apparently he's good at his job. And "The Life of Chuck" was popular with viewers at a Canadian film festival where it won the audience award.

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk

It’s summer, which means movie studios release films they hope will draw people into theaters for more than just a way to avoid the heat.

The John Wick spinoff Ballerina hit theaters earlier this month. The family-friendly remake of How to Train Your Dragon with live actors among the fire-breathing CGI beasts also is on screens. And Celine Song, who last year brought us the poignant Past Lives, is back with her rom-com take in Materialists.

But the movie that’s really piqued my interest is The Life of Chuck. I have four reasons for wanting to see this movie.

Cheering for Chuck: First, it’s the latest adaptation of a Stephen King work. This one is from a 50-page story published in 2020 that’s a sentimental and supernatural tale of the life of an ordinary man, Charles “Chuck” Krantz, told in three chapters. The apocalypse also comes into play. Hey, Stephen King. What else can I say?

Second, there’s the cast. Tom Hiddleston, whom I loved in the television miniseries The Night Manager, plays the titular Charles “Chuck” Krantz. Hiddleston’s range is amazing, and in this movie he dances. 
   

Even better, one of my many celebrity “husbands” (don’t worry, the real-life hubby knows about them all), Chiwetel Ejiofor is in the cast. I’ve loved him since he starred in Stephen Frear’s Dirty Pretty Things back in 2002. And the best casting news is Mark Hamill as Chuck’s grandfather, who raises him after a childhood tragedy. Grandpa Luke Skywalker! Now, that’s the Star Wars movie we’ve been waiting for!

Third, The Life of Chuck is getting a lot of buzz. Last fall, it won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival. This honor has been a harbinger of many best picture Academy Award nominees and winners, including Room, La La Land, 12 Years a Slave (Ejiofor!), and Nomadland. Public adulation and sometimes random awards don’t necessarily drive my movie (or other entertainment) choices, but if word is something is at least enjoyable, I’m more apt to give it a shot.

Finally and fourth, Chuck is an accountant. There’s no indication from reviews as to whether he’s a tax accountant, but still.

Yes, there are bean counter films, notably The Accountant, the original and its sequel, and one of my favorites, Midnight Run. But not that many. So, tax specialty or no, I’m kind of jazzed for this movie. Plus, the dancing.

More tax-focused films: If you prefer movies that have more tax in their plots, this weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs go to some of my favorite films in this non-Oscar category (although several of them were award winners).

The bold-faced film titles are linked to the IMBD page for each, where you can find more information.

In a few of the movies, taxes are a major creative component. In others, there’s just a mere mention of tax.

But still, as a tax journalist, blogger, admitted tax nerd, and definite lifetime film lover, I’ll take any movie where they meet even in passing.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006): Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an Internal Revenue Service auditor who suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear. The chronicle, by a writer portrayed by Emma Thompson, begins to affect Crick's character's entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death. The movie wasn't a commercial success, but I enjoyed it, maybe because Ferrell’s restrained role played against his typical film type. But the movie makers probably would have made more money if they'd come up with a story of the IRS auditing the Talladega Nights drivers.

The Untouchables (1987): This sleek version of mob boss Al Capone's vicious reign and the efforts of a select group of Armani-clad Treasury Department agents to bring him down boasts a cast of three Oscar winners (Robert De Niro as Capone; Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness; and Sean Connery, who snagged his best supporting actor statue as Ness' streetwise lieutenant Jim Malone). There are plenty of shootouts, but the film's most frightening scene may well be the one in which the Untouchables' tax accountant brandishes a Tommy gun.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994): So far, this is my favorite version of a Stephen King work, and I don’t expect Chuck to unseat it. Taxes aren't a major focus of this cable TV staple, but Andy Dufresne's knowledge of the tax code helped him survive and — spoiler alert — escape prison, first by his helping prison guards and then getting inside the warden's financial double dealing. Plus, it's got a great cast (Morgan Freeman!). When I run across Shawshank while channel surfing, regardless of where the movie is, I put down the remote and watch it to the end.

Love and Taxes (2015): This film may be the first-ever pro-tax romantic comedy. It follows seven years of tax avoidance as told by Josh Kornbluth, an autobiographical monologist who is the film’s screenwriter and star. When Josh is finally persuaded to fulfill his tax obligations, things start going unbelievably well for him. Until he falls prey to an unscrupulous, tax lawyer, who now might own the rights to Love and Taxes. And Josh’s tax-avoidance problems have ballooned into a tax nightmare that threatens all of the great new things in his life. I won’t spoil it, but the romantic comedy genre provides a big clue as to how things turn out for Josh.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022): This Best Movie winner at the 2023 Oscars is, true to its name, all over the place. That includes an IRS office, where Jamie Lee Curtis was an auditor. I’m sure her portrayal of the perennial tax villain was what tipped the votes for her selection as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The outrageous adventures of the film’s star, Best Actress Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, as her character Evelyn Wang battles to save her current existence by exploring other universes and connecting with the lives she could have led, isn’t for everyone. But the line by her film husband, played by Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan is among filmdom’s best: “So, even though you have broken my heart yet again, I wanted to say, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”

Out of the Past (1947): I love film noir. I love it even more when there's a tax angle. In this classic movie, Robert Mitchum plays Jeff Bailey, a former private investigator trying to live a stress-free life. But this being a fatalistic noir tale, Bailey is forced into working for a powerful gambling kingpin, Whit Stirling played by Kirk Douglas, with whom he had unfinished business. Among Stirling's troubles is a blackmail attempt involving tax evasion.

Some of these are on streaming platforms. Others are on video on demand or can be purchased as CDs. I hope you find at least a few of the films entertaining, and a nice break from real life tax matters, this Saturday or any day.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Oscars swag bags hold $220,000 in taxable goodies
• The real-life story of the Barbie movie's tax & IRS references
• Movie making tax breaks are still around, and still as controversial as the annual Oscars' picks

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