The Running Man

Episode 258: The Running Man (2025)

Theme: The Wright Stuff
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, "The Wright Stuff"—our month-long celebration of Edgar Wright's filmography—comes to a close with his 2025 big-budget, dystopian remake of Stephen King's The Running Man. It’s a film that trading in the hyper-campy 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger studio set-piece for a faithful, cross-country chase where a desperate, very white, very straight Glenn Powell tries to survive for 30 days while being hunted by corporate-sponsored killers and an entire media-brainwashed population. Grab your $100 "New Dollars," check into a sketchy motel, and remember: if you're stuck in a corner, just throw on a towel and sprint for the exit.

The hosts break down:

• Ben Richards (Glenn Powell): An unemployed, desperate father whose attempt to earn medicine for his sick daughter lands him on the nation's most lethal, rating-obsessed game show.

• Evan McCone (Lee "Picante" Pace): The ruthless lead hunter who relentlessly tracks Richards across the ruins of Derry, Maine, and the skies above Boston.

• Elton Parakus (Michael Cera): A perpetually 17-year-old-looking anti-network activist who equips his home with elaborate, Home Alone-style booby traps before getting Richards moving again.

• The 40-Second Change: An absurd continuity error where Ben Richards elevator-drops into a locker room and changes out of a full jumpsuit into jeans, a hoodie, and boots in under 40 seconds (according to the wall clock).

• The "Glenn Towel" Sequence: A scene designed solely to showcase a chiseled Glenn Powell escaping an armed hotel ambush while wearing nothing but a pristine white bath towel that miraculously refuses to budge.

Final Verdict:

Oz — 4 Spirit Halloween Costumes Curtis — 57 Absolutely Nothings