'The Whale' washes up as a near-miss, despite Brendan Fraser's great performance

Charlie is dying.

This is neither a spoiler nor a surprise to anyone who watches “The Whale,” director Darren Aronofsky’s film about an enormously overweight college professor — upwards of 600 pounds — trying to make amends and come to terms with his life while the clock runs out.

It features one great and a couple of really good performances. But it is not a great movie.

I’m not even sure it’s much of a good one.

It has some moments of unexpected grace, and a satisfying conclusion. But despite noble, sympathetic intentions, it comes off as somewhat airless and contrived, and its depiction of Charlie is not what Aronofsky thinks it is.

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Brendan Fraser's performance finds empathy in what could be spectacle

This is despite Brendan Fraser’s remarkable performance as Charlie. Lumbering under a fat suit and prosthetics, it would be easy to make Charlie a mere spectacle as he wolfs down gigantic sub sandwiches and entire buckets of chicken at a sitting. His struggle to perform everyday tasks, like taking a shower or simply walking into a room, have an almost voyeuristic feel.

This was doubtless not Aronofsky’s intention but it is his result — except that Fraser bails him out with oversized doses of humanity, unexpected humor and a kind of winning, if doomed, spirit.

The film begins with Charlie teaching a class over Zoom. His is the only square blacked out. His camera still isn’t working, he says. In truth he’s muting the video to hide himself. He is gigantic, stunningly so. He says at one point he was always big, but he’s let himself go.

There is a reason. Years before, Charlie left his wife and young daughter for a student, a man who has since died. His death has sent Charlie into a downward spiral — basically he is eating himself to death. The film explores the last week of his life.

The film watches like a play

It’s based on Samuel D. Hunter’s play (he also wrote the screenplay), and it feels like a stage production, taking place almost entirely in Charlie’s apartment. His only regular visitor is Liz (Hong Chau), a nurse who repeatedly warns Charlie he will die if he doesn’t see a doctor.

Liz is also the sister of his late lover, the details of whose death we learn over time.

Charlie is adamantly opposed to medical help. When he struggles, he reads, or asks others to read to him, a student essay on “Moby Dick” (thus the title), which comforts him. More is revealed about its origin later.

Charlie is also visited, at an awkward moment, by Thomas (Ty Simpkins), a young missionary who wants to save Charlie’s soul but is also intrigued by his earthly presence.

Then one day Ellie (Sadie Sink), Charlie’s estranged daughter, shows up. She is all anger.

She’s also bombing out at school, particularly on a paper she wrote. Charlie offers to help her; she wants him to rewrite it for her. This is, of course, a way for him to try to work his way back into her life before he dies, to try to make amends.

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The chemistry between Fraser and Sink is the best part of the movie

These interactions are the best part of the film (with any appearance by Chau a close second). The chemistry between Fraser and Sink is so genuine, even when it is uncomfortable. And it often is. Ellie seethes with resentment, understandably so. She is also cruel.

Charlie, meanwhile is patient and understanding. His love for his daughter — he repeatedly tells her how special she is, how wonderful — is moving, even heartbreaking. In Fraser’s hands the biggest thing about Charlie is his heart.

Unfortunately, the staginess of the production leads to stagnation. It’s all too pat. Late in the film Samantha Morton, an outstanding actress, shows up as Mary, Charlie’s ex-wife. Stilted dialogue makes it kind of awful, a scene so poorly conceived it threatens to drag the film down with it.

Thanks to Sink, Chau and especially Fraser, that doesn’t happen. But there’s only so much they can do, leaving “The Whale” beached on the shore of near-misses.

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How to watch 'The Whale'

Available to buy on Prime Video and Apple TV+.

'The Whale' 3 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Darren Aronofsky.

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau.

Rating: R for language, some drug use and sexual content.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How to watch 'The Whale,' and see why Brendan Fraser won an Oscar