Run, Fat Boy, Run Review
by dnb@dca.net (dnb AT dca DOT net)April 1st, 2008
RUN, FATBOY, RUN
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2008 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
In training for the Nike River Run, a grueling, 26-mile endurance race along the banks of the River Thames, an out-of-shape women's lingerie store security guard named Dennis (Simon Pegg) jogs briefly down his block, pulls up with a painful stitch, looks at his watch and decides he's had enough for one day.
It's a classic Simon Pegg moment, one no doubt written by the 38-year-old comic actor from Gloucestershire, England. Pegg writes as well as acts, you see--think of him as a UK Owen Wilson--but if you're expecting another "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz," films in which Pegg shone as both actor and screenwriter, I have disappointing news for you: "Run, Fatboy, Run" is't it.
"Shaun'" and "'Fuzz" were co-written (and directed) by fellow Brit Edgar Wright, so those spoofs had an Anglophilic sensibility/sense of humor about them. "Run, Fatboy, Run" is co-written by Michael Ian Black (an American) and helmed by first-time feature director David Schwimmer (Ross from TV's "Friends") so it does not. Whenever "Run, Fatboy, Run" dumbs something down, sans cleverness, I'm thinking Black. Whenever Dennis hitches up his running shorts (they make Euro Speedos look voluminous) I'm guessing Pegg. Gross-out scenes, like the blister lancing sequence, bare male derrieres, and utilizing a store mannequin as a scratching post? Black. Scenes that make you actually laugh? Pegg. You could say Black and Pegg are like chalk and cheese.
Of course this is all just supposition on my part. It stems from the same thinking that Matt Damon wrote all the rib-tickling parts of "Good Will Hunting."
Anyway, "Run, Fatboy, Run" is an Americanized version of a Wright/Pegg comedy. It's not a total disaster but it's in a different class. Which is a shame because it looked ruddy funny from the previews.
Even the plot has lame stamped all over it. Quitter and professional layabout Dennis ditches his (pregnant!) intended at the altar and then, five years later, spends his every waking moment trying to win her back (after realizing she's his true love after all). This Dennis does by agreeing to enter--and more importantly finish--a London marathon, since Libby (Thandie Newton) is now seeing Whit (Hank Azaria), a well-groomed, well-honed, and well-off Yank who's scheduled to compete in the race (his own ego being *his* true love, with running a distant second and Libby someplace further down the list). Dennis, who now has a five-year-old son, trains in semi-earnest with the support of his best friend Gordon (stand-up comedian Dylan Moran) and spatula-wielding landlord Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel).
Either love, or Whit, triumphs.
The formula is there but the writing is not. And neither is the direction; Schwimmer's stints at directing a few episodes of "Friends" (and "Joey") haven't translated well to the big screen. And personally I found Azaria miscast; I guess he'll always be Nat the Dogwalker to me. On the plus side there's Pegg, personality to spare, whose comic timing is impeccable, and the lovely Newton, who freshens up a lot of the stale bits. A couple of zombies wouldn't have hurt either.
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David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net
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