Run Fatboy Run (Review)

I love Simon Pegg's movies, Shawn of the Dead and especially Hot Fuzz are hilarious and I enjoyed his work in the recent Star Trek film. Run Fatboy Run is a film I missed out on mostly because the trailers for the movie weren't engaging and made the film look really generic. It's about a guy named Dennis Doyle, who left his pregnant girlfriend Libby at the altar. Five years later, he wants her back and of course given the predictability of storylines like this, she's moved on to another man, the seemingly-perfect Whit. Whit is going to run in a marathon for charity, and Dennis hopes that by competing he can convince Libby that he's changed.

While BASEketball was a parody of sports films and typical loser's redemption films, Run Fatboy Run is pretty much a by-the-numbers sports and loser's redemption film. I already knew where most of the plot was going as soon as the basic portion of the story was revealed and some of the characters are a tad too predictable like the villain Whit who starts out as the flawless boyfriend, but naturally becomes more of a dick as the movie progresses. I blame most of the movie's generic nature on the director David Schwimmer, best known for his starring role on the completely mediocre and over-rated sitcom Friends. Luckily Simon Pegg and the talented Michael Ian Black had a hand in the script and manage to include some refreshing changes from the norm here and there. I liked that the characters soon realize that Dennis actually doing the charity won't get Libby back to him and the while the film ends with their relationship on better terms, whether or not they get back together is left up to viewer's imagination which is so much better than most movies these days that force a couple together with little coherent reason.

The cast keeps the movie afloat with some well done performances. Simon Pegg is naturally the best of the bunch, making his rather one note starring character explode with life. Dylan Moran is likable in the best friend role and manages to get a few solid jokes in. Thandie Newton does a lovely job as the love interest which is rather surprising considering she wasn't very good in this role in some of her previous films (Norbit, Crash). Run Fatboy Run was a decent enough comedy, I'd say it's at least worth a look if only for Simon Pegg's involvement.