How many times have you
seen a romantic comedy with
the same old formula? Boy
has girl, boy messes up, girl
meets new guy, old guy does
crazy thing and gets girl back
by the end credits. It’s pretty
standard for the romantic
comedy genre, but it’s always
interesting to see a new take
on an old recipe.
“Run Fatboy Run” features
Simon Pegg (Shaun of the
Dead, Hot Fuzz), Thandie
Newton (MI: 2, Norbit),
Dylan Moran (Shaun of the
Dead) and Hank Azaria and
is directed by David
Schwimmer of “Friends”.
The story: Dennis (Pegg) was
supposed to marry his pregnant
girlfriend Libby
(Newton) but chickens out at
the last second and literally
runs away screaming. Cut to
five years later, where a significantly
out-of-shape
Dennis is a security guard
and generally an all-around
irresponsible person. While
picking up his son Jake, to go
see the “Lord of the Rings:
The Musical,” he meets
Libby’s new boyfriend Whit
(Azaria), a seemingly perfect
guy who runs marathons for
charity and is the go-getter
Dennis is not.
While Dennis seemingly
failed as a boyfriend, Whit
makes up for it by announcing
he is running the Nike
River Run in London for
charity. This is where the old
“RomCom” formula rears its
ugly head and makes the
movie ever more predictable.
Dennis goes through a montage
of training with his best
friend Gordon (Moran) with
several funny situations
sprinkled in between. His
training appears to be going
great until he’s invited to
Libby’s birthday party at
Whit’s where, in an unceremonious
and interesting
action, he asks Libby to marry
him and deflates Dennis’
hopes of ever reuniting with
Libby.
The direction the movie
goes is much the same way
every other romantic comedy
goes.
While the story is very
interesting and Schwimmer’s
directing is well done, the
movie is predictable. Unlike
other Pegg hits like “Shaun of
the Dead” or the actionpacked,
explosion-riddled,
blood fest that was “Hot
Fuzz”, this movie may appear
to be tame.
However Pegg’s signature
style of being awkwardly out
of place and makes up for
some of the movie’s blandness.
Over all, the movie is good,
but not the greatest comedy
on the planet. However, anyone
who is a fan of Pegg
should check out the movie
for themselves.