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Run Fatboy Run Review

Thanks for checking out our Run Fatboy Run review from the SXSW film festival here in Austin Texas.

I am but one of many people who instantly because a big and probably life long fan of Simon Pegg after watching Shaun of the Dead for the first time. That movie just had it all… terrific comedic performances, great writing, some great sick gore… it was just one of the most fun films I’ve seen in a long time. Then came Hot Fuzz, which wasn’t quite as good, but still very solid and just solidified Pegg (as well os Wright and Frost) as a guy that gets me interested in any project he’s involved in. So along comes Run Fatboy Run, the first non-Edgar Wright directed project I’ve seen Pegg in. Pegg wrote the screenplay, but how did the movie do with former Friends star David Schwimmer behind the camera instead of Wright? Well… not as well.

THE BASIC IDEA

From the official synopsis: “An overweight man leaves his fiancée on their wedding day, only to realize years later that she’s the one and only woman of his dreams in a romantic comedy that reunites Big Nothing co-stars Simon Pegg and David Schwimmer, this time with Schimmer in the director’s chair. It’s not easy to win back a woman after leaving her at the alter, but when an out-of-shape man finally realizes just what a mistake he made, he vows to run a high-profile marathon in order to convince his ex-fiancée that the rich and handsome man she is about to marry isn’t the guy for her.”

THE GOOD

Oddly enough the first person I want to mention for this movie is Dylan Moran. Moran plays Pegg’s best friend and the cousin of Pegg’s love interest. Moran was also in Shaun of the Dead with Pegg, and while he was pretty over shadowed in “Shaun”, he absolutely stands out and shines in Fatboy. His deadpan comedic timing was just perfect. It got to the point that every time he opened his mouth on screen you just EXPECTED something hilarious to come out. Very much a supporting role, but to me he stood out even more than Pegg, wich is a testament to how well he did in this flick as opposed to a knock on the job Pegg did. Speaking of which…

Simon Pegg was, as expected, very strong in the lead. That same charm and lovable half loser aura that he brought to “Shaun” was very much in full force for Fatboy. Pegg seems to have the ability to take even a mundane piece of dialog, and make it something that puts a grin on your face. Speaking of “face”, Pegg has that same Jim Carrey ability of using his face to emphasis comedic elements… but in a more subdued manner than Carrey, which I think is even more effective.

One thing that these British style comedies absolutely MUST have to work, is strong, memorable characters. Fatboy is well equipped in that regard. Pegg, Hank Azaria (who was also fantastic in the film), the Landlord, the Best Friend, even the Kid were all very endearing characters that you liked, laughed with… and even enjoyed when you weren’t supposed to like them very much

The first hour of this film is HILARIOUS.

THE BAD

Ok, the first thing I should mention here is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine. A little while ago I wrote a post called “8 Things I’m Sick Of Seeing In The Movies” talking about horrible overused cliches that too many movies fall back on. Well, in that article the #1 thing I put right at the top was:

1 - The current boyfriend/husband of the main character’s would be love interest is a total jerk

THE CLICHE: You know what I’m talking about. The “hero” of the film loves a girl, but the girl has a boyfriend. Already you know there is a 97% chance that this boyfriend will end up being a total dick. He yells at her, demeans her, doesn’t respect her. You can’t imagine why on earth she’s with him in the first place… but whatever the reason it doesn’t matter, because you know she’s going to end up with the hero in the end anyway when she finally sees the jerk in question for what he is, and leaves him for the hero.

Well guess what? That happens… again. About half the movies I’ve seen here use that old cliche and it always DRIVES ME NUTS! I HATE THAT!

Thawndie Newton does not belong in movies. I think she’s terrible, and terrible once again in this flick. At no point could I imagine why Pegg was in love with her, or why she was worth fighting for. Maybe I could have if Newton brought ANYTHING to the character… but she’s just not capable of it.

I mentioned in the “Good” part that the first hour of the film is hilarious. And it is! However, after the first hour the movie hits a wall. Great characters and a clever direction suddenly gave way to far overused cliches, safe yet terrible plot devices, and it went from feeling like a motion picture to a bad sitcom episode. A real shame because the film was moving along so great up to that point and it seemed to just get flushed.

OVERALL

Strong characters, some great laughs and a couple of decent performances are almost ruined by bad cliches, safe Hollywood type decisions and a sudden change in direction that disrupted the feel of the film. I still enjoyed the film when all was said and done, but I can’t help but also feel let down by it. For a Pegg movie I was hoping for so much more. A decent flick I think you’ll like… but don’t expect to love it in the least. Overall I give Run Fatboy Run a 6.5 out of 10

10 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. nbakid2000

    I’ve actually met a lot of nice girls who were with assholes.

  2. Meli

    Aw, this reviews bums me out…oh well, DVD is always a good option. I’m not a fan of romantic comedies, I pretty much hate them, but anything with Pegg is worth a go.

  3. Meli

    Aw, this review bums me out…oh well, DVD is always a good option. I’m not a fan of romantic comedies, I pretty much hate them, but anything with Pegg is worth a go.

  4. Kristina

    John, we are almost EXACTLY on the same page with this movie. I saw it a while ago and did a review, and I didn’t like it, either. I was very disappointed, because Pegg is usually firing on all cylinders. It felt like everyone was slumming, and the whole thing with Whit being a dick was BEYOND predictable. Just a LAME movie.

    http://www.stalepopcorn.co.uk/reviews/movie-reviews-theatrical/movie-review-run-fatboy-run/

  5. Grundy

    I suggest you check out Dylan Moran’s show Black Books, which is really just great, it’s up there with Spaced.

  6. Chris Edwards

    I saw this film, because of living the U.K with middle aged women and they loved this film. The only problem with this film is that all the comedy bits that Pegg does was written for himself by himself.

    But moran parts are the best parts about it

  7. clone_tk422

    I actually reckon Hank Azaria stole the show on this one. He was great. As for him being the cliche jerk boyfriend, I agree that was the case, however in the beginning of the movie he didnt start out being the asshole.. He started out being likeable and led into being asshole towards the end which I liked.

  8. Oliver

    “He started out being likeable and led into being asshole towards the end which I liked.”

    This is what I HATED. I felt like they were just fucking with me. You knew he was gonna go bad in some ridiculously unbelievable and sudden way. I was hoping they’d have the balls to not acutally make him an asshole and have Pegg’s character just realize at the end what an idiot he was and that it was too late. No stakes. We all knew he was gonna get her. It ended with it almost being fortunate he left her at the alter, so he could grow up a bit then win her back. So bascially, the moral of the story is, you can’t really fuck up in life, as long as you’re determined you can turn anything around, there are no irreversible mistakes, when we all know there are.

  9. Kristina

    Yeah, I said that in my review. Making the other guy a jerk makes the shit WAY too convenient. It basically hands the woman an easy way out to the relationship when, in reality, any sane woman would not go back to a lazy, irresponsible asshat who left them at the ALTAR while PREGNANT WITH HIS FUCKING CHILD! As much as people joke on Superman Returns, at least they didn’t fall into this trap by making Marsden’s character a douche.

  10. CrzyDJM

    I loved every minute of the movie, but I can understand the griping about the cliched boyfriend…

    I still loved it though, especially the “hitting the wall” segment because I’ve been there and done that before…

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