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RUN, FAT BOY, RUN Send This Review to a Friend
Simon Pegg as Dennis, the hero of this prove-yourself comedy that Pegg wrote with Michael Ian Black and that David Schwimmer has directed, isn’t really fat. But run he does as he trains and enters a marathon with the goal of winning back the woman he once jilted at the altar. “Run, Fat Boy, Run,” is an amiable British comedy with a far-fetched ultra-contrived plot. Its spirit is appealing and the performances are easy to take, including that by Hank Azaria as Dennis’s stuffed-shirt American romantic rival.
Dennis, unable to step up to life’s responsibilities, runs out on his fiancée Libby, who is pregnant. Thandie Newton is appealing in the role. Cut to years later, when the child she bore as a single mom is now a teenager. Dennis has nursed feelings for her and realizes the mistake he made. But how can he win her back, especially when his rival is ready to provide for her and the boy?
The film is set up for us to root for Dennis, which we are prone to do given the utter sincerity in his desire to make amends. But the story-line is quite predictable. Dennis has to prove himself, and we hope he does. Yet the tale is a very broad stretch, with the screenplay pushing all the requisite buttons along the way. A Picturehouse release.
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