Dennis is a clueless and slightly overweight guy, who left his pregnant fiancée five years earlier. Every day, Dennis tries to persuade the woman he loves to accept him back into his life, but everyday he fails. When he discovers that Libby has found a partner in the form of American Whit, frustration grows, and Dennis vows, that for once in his life, he will finish something. This something ends up being a Nike River-run in London. With his friends Gordon and Mr. Ghoshdashtidar by his side, Dennis begins training for the marathon he must finish.
Genre(s): Comedy, Romance, Sport
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: 6.8/10 (24,003 votes)
Release Date: 7 September 2007
Country: UK
Languages: English
Company: Beech Hill Films
Sound: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some rude and sexual humor, nudity, language and smoking.
Director(s): David Schwimmer
Producer(s):
Martha Coleman – executive producer
Sarah Curtis – producer
Alexa L. Fogel – executive producer
Cam Galano – executive producer
Nigel Green – executive producer
Joseph Infantolino – executive producer
Robert Jones – producer
Cathy Lord – line producer
Rolf Mittweg – executive producer
Frances Patterson – assistant producer
Writer(s):
Michael Ian Black – (screenplay) &
Simon Pegg – (screenplay)
Michael Ian Black – (story)
Cast:
Simon Pegg – Dennis Doyle
Thandie Newton – Elizabeth Olivia 'Libby' Odell
Hank Azaria – Whit
Dylan Moran – Gordon
Harish Patel – Mr. Goshdashtidar
India de Beaufort – Maya G. Das
Matthew Fenton – Jake
Simon Day – Vincent
Ruth Sheen – Claudine
Tyrone Huggins – Grover
Music: Alex Wurman
Tagline: Love. Commitment. Responsibility. There's nothing he can't run away from.
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Hmmmmm…..There are a few laughs here, but loads and loads of clichés.An interesting conglomeration of actors: David Schwimmer directs (whoknew?), Thandie Newton, whose most memorable role to date was in"Mission Impossible II", Simon Pegg, who coincidentally also has a"Mission Impossible" (III) on his resume but perhaps is mostrecognizable from the British comedy of a few years ago "Hot Fuzz," andeven Hank Azaria takes part as a smarmy American with suspectintentions.
Simon Pegg is a London Loser by the name of Dennis Doyle. Having leftThandie Newton's character, Libby, at the alter, pregnant no less, hislife spirals downward from there. He's now an overweight,cigarette-addicted security guard in a women's lingerie store whoperpetually locks himself out of his basement apartment where he isalso (surprise!) behind in the rent. One wonders what Libby could haveever seen in him in the first place. Hank Azaria plays Whit, a suave,rich American whose plan is to woo Libby and her now 5-year-old son,with whom Dennis still has a good relationship. The son Jake is playedby an almost pathologically cute kid named Matthew Fenton with just theright number of missing teeth. Every movie cliché you can imagine isplayed out. Dennis tries to redeem himself in Libby's eyes by trainingfor a marathon that Whit will be running in. His Indian landlord andne'er-do-well best friend become his trainers for reasons of their own.Improbability abounds. Dennis transforms into the lovable, haplessanti-hero, Whit into the heartless villain. Thandie Newton's Libby is astudy in stagy, overwrought facial expression. You could make aflip-book of the hundred or so faces she makes……she doesn't so muchact the part as grimace it.
Rent only if all the other B movies are checked out, or if you reallywant to see some great shots of modern-day London.
…then you will be sorely disappointed by this, nice but virtuallycompletely different comedy.
Simon Pegg shows that he can be the new Robert Carlyle (remember himfrom The Full Monty). He is funny, sad and touching but unlike thatother brilliant film there doesn't seem to be enough of a comedic hookto sustain interest. The fat man running a marathon seems like a goodpremise but the director, David Schwimmer's love for drama rather thancomedy gets in the way of making this truly memorable.
On the plus side, you get a truly great performance from both SimonPegg and his antagonist, Hank Azaria. It's truly amazing how Azaria canplay both nice and really sleazy with equal skill. His turn comes quiteunexpected and it's one of the more pleasing aspects of this otherwiseordinary movie.
Schwimmer does seem to have a British sensibility and the scenesbetween the Indian landlord and Pegg are the best moments because theyfeel so true. You do believe that they could strike up a friendshipunlike an American movie where most interracial friendships areseverely restricted.
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot Thandie Newton. She deserves the most creditsince she plays a rather thankless role. The unwed mother, jilted bythe Pegg character at the altar (can you feel the cliché machinegrinding). Schwimmer wisely makes her a person and not a vicious shrewout for revenge.
The end is a bit too unbelievable and you sort of wish it would haveended without showing the actual race. It seems to drag on and on andthe wall is really too much.
I was recently introduced to the Pegg-Frost movies which began with HotFuzz which I loved and then Shawn of the Dead which was nearly as good.I started watching all of Simon Pegg's movies and have to admit, RunFatboy Run was arguably the funniest of the lot.
David Schwimmer does a great job as director and has put together ahighly entertaining flick that will have you begging for more. It's oneof those movies where you keep checking your watch in hopes that themovie won't end.
Schwimmer has taken a fairly vanilla plot (loser irresponsible boyleaves girl girl at altar, spends the rest of his life wondering how towin her back) and created a set of characters cast to perfection.
Dylan Moran as Gordan and Harish Patel as the hilarious Mr.Goshdashtidar make for an ensemble with great on screen chemistry.
If you haven't seen this yet, you've laughed a little less this year
Although Run, Fatboy, Run was better than I expected, it was not asgood as it could have been. Simon Pegg and David Schwimmer are togetheragain, a year after appearing side by side in Big Nothing (2006), onlythis time Schwimmer is behind the camera and he makes Pegg's fumbling,but well-meaning, Dennis, the focus of this film.
Run, Fatboy, Run opens with Dennis Doyle (Simon Pegg) in a panic,covered in sweat. We soon realize that it is his wedding day, and hisbride-to-be is pregnant. We later learn that Dennis is not a bad guy,he's just afraid to follow through with things, but that is not what wethink when we see him running down the street, leaving his pregnantfiancée, Libby (Thandie Newton), and the rest of the family, behind.
Skip ahead five years and Dennis is a security guard at a women'sclothing store. He is out of shape, behind on his rent, and shows uplate to pick up his son from Libby. This time, when he picks up hisson, something is different. Libby has a new boyfriend, Whit (HankAzaria), who seems all too perfect, and to top it off, Whit even runsmarathons for charity.
In an effort to prove his worth to Libby, and to prove that he isbetter than Whit, Dennis decides that he is going to run in theupcoming marathon with Whit. With only a few weeks to train, get inshape, and find a charity to sponsor him, Dennis's friend, Gordon(Dylan Moran), (who happens to also be Libby's cousin) takes on therole of coach, partly because he is a good friend, but also becauseGordon has placed a huge bet that depends on Dennis finishing themarathon. Dennis's landlord, Mr. Goshdashtidar (Harish Patel), alsojoins the group as assistant coach, which basically entails beatingDennis with a spatula every time he messes up in his training.
The best scenes in the movie are between Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran(who you may remember as the Harry-Potter-looking-guy, David, in Shaunof the Dead (2004)). The dialogue between them is always entertainingand there is a great fight scene between them later in the film. HankAzaria delivers a good performance as theseemingly-all-too-perfect-boyfriend, who's character is a constantthorn in Dennis's side. I also enjoyed the scenes with Harish Patel,mostly because after his various rants, you really have no idea what hewas trying to say.
There are a lot of good moments in Run, Fatboy, Run, but you have tosit through a lot of not-so-great moments to get to them. The film runsslow, most of the time, and the really great scenes are too spaced out.If the story was tighter and more great jokes put in place of themediocre ones, this could have been a much better film. Fortunately,since the film takes place in London with a mostly British cast, thistime we at least do not have to sit through Simon Pegg speaking with anAmerican accent.