Run Fatboy Run (2007)

When I first heard about this movie I was pretty excited; another comedy starring Simon Pegg, of whom of course I'm a huge fan. As is the case with most films recently, I did not see it in theaters, and having caught it on television I'm happy I didn't shell over the nine dollars at the box office. It's something of an odd movie: shot in London by a UK production team, directed by an American (David Schwimmer), yet featuring a pair of British comedy mainstays along side Hank Azaria.

Spoilers ahead, I guess

Story wise it borrows somewhat from the 1979 Michael Douglas picture Running which I have not seen, the treatment by Michael Ian Black, then that treatment written for the screen by Black and Pegg. Yeah, I don't know. But what we have in this movie is a cookie cutter romance comedy with some lewd humor kept within PG-13 constraints. An overweight department store security guard who left his pregnant girl at the altar five years back still pines for her, despite her relationship with the corporate douchebag (Azaria) who is outwardly perfect a la Patrick Bateman, without the psychotic interior.

Needless to say, I had the ending worked out literally 13 minutes into the movie (I checked the time) and I was on the mark. Dylan Moran, one of the aforementioned English mainstays, plays Pegg's offbeat best mate, a womanizer who is not employed and yet lives in a London flat, regularly playing cards and otherwise dicking around. Literally. You'll understand if you see the movie. Okay, you won't see it. He's shown a couple times without his pants on, from behind, as a gag of some kind. Also making an appearance from the Edgar Wright circle is Peter Serafinowicz, unfortunately just doing voice work. Various other English sitcom denizens are sprinkled throughout.

The movie looks decent if a little boring visually (this is a very sterile London), and Pegg is watchable even with this decidedly mediocre material. Obviously in good shape coming off Hot Fuzz, he dons some kind of torso cover to give him man boobs and a gut, and it's not a very convincing effect. However, this is an independent movie that apparently had budget constraints and did manage to shoot in London with a 10,000 person marathon at the finale, so I have to give some credit for pulling that off, and actually making it look convincing.

It's a shame to squander talent like this, and while I did have a few laughs, there was nothing here to make this anything other than a one-time viewing. Actors rarely, if ever, hit on all their movies, and Run Fatboy Run is not terrible. It's just not good.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10]

http://www.runfatboyrunmovie.com/