Run Fatboy Run is a tiring jaunt

By Joe Pelone
Collegian Editor
April 16, 2008

It’s not David Schwimmer’s fault. I just want to get that out of the way. Co-written by Stella’s Michael Ian Black and Hot Fuzz’s Simon Pegg, the recent U.K. import Run Fatboy Run comes with a high pedigree and a low amount of laughs. The film stars Pegg as an out-of-shape schlub named Denny trying to regain some self-esteem by competing in a race, the Nike River Run, after abandoning his pregnant fiancé (Thandie Newton) at the altar five years ago. With The Simpsons’s Hank Azaria as Pegg’s rival for Newton’s affections, Shaun of the Dead’s Dylan Moran as the comedic wingman and Matthew Fenton as the ridiculously-cute bastard child, Run Fatboy Run should’ve been a knockout flick. But it’s merely good, which makes it seem terrible compared to what all these people have done before.

But it’s seriously not Schwimmer’s fault. Dude just points the camera at the actors and records. He’s not very stylistic, but he is adequate and he did a lot to help fund the picture, so cut him some slack. What kills Run Fatboy Run is the script. There are too few jokes, and it’s a huge leap to like Denny when his introduction to the audience includes ditching his preggers girlfriend just ’cause. The core of the film is Pegg’s attempts to get back with Newton after whammin’ and bammin’ without thankin’ her, but their interactions dialogue-wise are lackluster and drawn out.

Being a stereotypical romantic comedy, I’m not spoiling much when I say the two end up together. The pacing of this second courtship is agonizingly slow to the point that just when you think the relationship is patched up, like, say, after Pegg wins the girl after finishing the race, in comes another scene to tell you that, hey, they’re still not together for real.

On second thought, maybe the Friends star had a bigger impact than I thought …

Run Fatboy Run’s script needs work, but at least the cast is remarkable. Where someone like Adam Sandler makes stunted man-boys mentally deficient, Pegg plays a man-boy with grace and emotional range. He’s a pretty likeable guy, and in this movie he reps David Bowie and Siouxsie and The Banshees, which rules. It almost makes me forget that whole bastard son/canceled marriage plot point.

The supporting cast is solid as well. While the script is blunt in spots, Azaria shines as the nice guy who’s secretly a jerk. He subtly drops hints in early scenes that he’s a control freak and an asshole, and his final shift into that role isn’t jarring like in lesser films like Just Friends or Must Love Dogs. Moran, for his part, is just hilariously absurd. Newton and Fenton only have to be cute and loveable, which they achieve, but Newton in particular never gets to do much besides be hot. She’s a lovely lass, and to that extent she succeeds in the role. It would’ve been nice if she had something to do, though.

For a stereotypical romantic comedy, Run Fatboy Run isn’t too bad. It’s certainly a disappointment after Pegg’s double hitters Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but the performances imbue the lousy story with soul. When it bothers to include jokes, they’re generally crude but effective. Overall, a nice holdover until Pegg finishes The World's End, the third installment in his comedic “Blood and Ice Cream” trilogy with writer/director Edgar Wright.

pelonej1@lasalle.edu