Struck by Lightning

Struck by Lightning (2013) is an American comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM. The script was written by Chris Colfer — best known as Kurt on Glee — who also takes the lead role. Brian Dannelly directed.

Carson Phillips is already dead when the story begins: lightning got him in a parking lot. From there he narrates, in detail, the blackmail scheme he ran to staff his literary magazine. A jock hiding his girlfriend's pregnancy. A teacher who needs a favour. A straight-A student with a secret social life. Carson collected leverage and deployed it without much guilt, because he had a plan for his life and none of these people were going to be in it. Allison Janney plays his mother, a woman whose own life derailed long before Carson came along, and she's the emotional core the film earns. Rebel Wilson has a few scenes as one of the reluctant contributors.

It's a sharper piece than the premise suggests — less about the blackmail than about what it costs to want more than your circumstances allow. Stream Struck by Lightning (2013) on iFILM.