This feeble premise limits the movie to perfunctory gags about the hero's sloth and some canned underdog drama.
Run, Fat Boy, Run (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:30
Fresh:16
Rotten:14
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Run, Fat Boy, Run features sporadic laughs, but is ultimately too formulaic and predictable.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some rude and sexual humor, nudity, language and smoking.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Mar 28, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $5,926,110
Synopsis: DENNIS (Simon Pegg) is an ordinary guy. He's a little overweight and he smokes, but he's nice, charming and unassuming. However, five years ago, Dennis did something that wasn't so nice. On his... DENNIS (Simon Pegg) is an ordinary guy. He's a little overweight and he smokes, but he's nice, charming and unassuming. However, five years ago, Dennis did something that wasn't so nice. On his wedding day to his pregnant fiancé LIBBY (Thandie Newton), Dennis did a runner. He just couldn't go through with it. He didn't think he was good enough for Libby, so instead of ruining her life, he ruined her big day. Now, five years later, Dennis realizes he made a big mistake. He's still in love with Libby. He still sees her all the time because of JAKE (Matthew Fenton), their five-year-old son, but all romantic ties have been severed. Libby's now seeing WHIT (Hank Azaria), a charming professional from the City, and Dennis takes an immediate dislike to him. Whit is casual, easy-going, successful and good with Jake; much to Dennis's annoyance. How can Dennis compete with him? In direct contrast to Whit's sleek lifestyle in the City, Dennis is a mere security guard for a ladies retail store. He doesn't earn much money and he's well behind on his rent, something which his landlord, MR GHOSHDASHTIDAR (Harish Patel), doesn't take lightly. Mr G's daughter MAYA (India de Beaufort) is particularly intent on evicting Dennis and replacing him with a much more reliable tenant. Compared to Whit's effortless abilities, everything Dennis attempts seems to end in disaster. Even when he wants to take Jake to see "Lord of the Rings: The Musical," he finds himself in trouble with the police for trying to buy from a ticket tout. There is no help forthcoming from Dennis' feckless best friend GORDON (Dylan Moran), whose life is just as much of a mismatch. Gordon's main sources of interest are the poker games held at the back of a piano store with a bunch of misfits: GROVER, CLAUDINE and MICKEY, overseen by the imperious VINCENT (Simon Day). Dennis feels demoralized and overwhelmed by Whit's long list of achievements. In a last-ditch effort to prove to Libby that he's changed his ways, Dennis impulsively announces at her birthday party that he will run in the same London Marathon that Whit has been training for. But does Dennis have the stuff to trade his cold feet for running shoes? RUN, FAT BOY, RUN is a romantic comedy that affirms that true love isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. --© Picturehouse [More]
Starring: Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Dylan Moran, Hank Azaria
Starring: Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Dylan Moran, Hank Azaria, Ameet Chana, Harish Patel, David Walliams, Stephen Merchant
Director: David Schwimmer
Director: David Schwimmer
Screenwriter: Michael Ian Black, Simon Pegg
Story: Michael Ian Black
Producer: Robert Jones, Sarah Curtis
Composer: Alex Wurman
Studio: Lions Gate Films
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Reviews for Run, Fat Boy, Run
Sure it’s predictable. Sure it’s a slight effort, but I still think it’s pretty funny and charming.
One thing Schwimmer does do right is keep the story moving swiftly. You're in, you're out, no harm done -- unless you want that hour and a half back.
Amiable, consistently amusing and surprisingly affecting, it has the flavor of a Nick Hornby novel, with its focus on an overgrown boy struggling to grow up and be a man.
Run, Fat Boy, Run is the directorial debut of actor David Schwimmer, who is much better behind the camera than in front of it. Here, he's taken material best suited to sketch comedy and turned it into a feature of no small heart and humour.
This is a romantic comedy light on romance but heavy on comedy, and it's well cast to skew in that direction.
Enough already. I mean, I don't have anything against comedies about dopey guys who win the love of a good woman by competing in ridiculous Olympian contests. But if I wanted to see a really funny one, I'd rent a Rocky movie.
The kind of movie that's apt to be dismissed a goofy lark. It is that. But it's also a rare comedy that believes in its own message, and that could inspire the depressed and the demoralized to grit their teeth and keep running.
Thanks to a jaunty Brit-rock score and likable characters all around, the movie's easy to watch and occasionally pumps up the emotions.
There's much too much of everything in Run, Fatboy, Run. Every ounce of comedy is so forced and full-on ridiculous that when characters express even a smidgen of sentiment, it feels like a parody.
The film is better than expected. It's directed with warmth, humor and intelligence.
This is not a film with blazingly original ideas or a groundbreaking script - I guessed the ending before the movie even started - but it has a sweet nature, an abundance of laughs and plenty of Pegg to spare.
From storyline to characterization to style of comedy, everything about the directorial debut of former Friends star David Schwimmer is a nod to accommodation, compromise and consensus.
There's a cheeky, cross-continental exuberance to Run, Fatboy, Run that lifts it over its predictability and keeps you laughing louder than you know you should. It's an upfront guilty pleasure without pretense; what a pleasant surprise.
Run, Fatboy, Run isn't going to win any prizes for fresh questions. But it's just fleet enough to hold its own in the middle of the pack.
Run Fat Boy Run might as well have been written by a rushed piece of software. The program calls for a surprise engagement, a street fight complete with crotch punches, an apartment eviction, and a runaway child -- all in about five minutes.
Deserves credit for not working us over the way so many modern comedies too. It brings us to the finish line with energy to spare, instead of leaving us feeling sapped.
Run Fat Boy Run is hard to love, thanks to the tedious romantic-comedy cliches to which it subjects its characters -- and us.
The project represents an uncertain Britification of a script by Chicago native Michael Ian Black, and the result finds itself stranded somewhere out in the Atlantic, mid-crossing.
Snarkiness and sentiment are in constant battle for supremacy throughout Run Fat Boy Run with no chance of a comfortable draw.
Latest News for Run, Fat Boy, Run
September 24, 2008:
The film, like its flabby aspiring marathon runner protagonist, feels shapeless and exhausted from the sheer effort of trying to please audiences. ![]()
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August 15, 2008:
CinWorld: The film, like its flabby aspiring marathon runner protagonist, feels shapeless and exhausted from the sheer effort of trying to please audiences. ![]()
More...
March 30, 2008:
New Feature Alert! The RT Review Revue, A Weekly Video Round-up
Live from the RT offices...it's the RT Review Revue! Check out the latest word on this week's new releases in the first installment of our new editorial video column. More...
March 27, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Four New Players Join The Game
Four new releases take a gamble debuting in theaters across North America hoping to hit the jackpot with audiences. The blackjack drama 21 and the spoof comedy Superhero Movie... More...
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