Run, Fat Boy, Run offers love and laughs

By Dan Hudak

Simon Pegg plays a fattie trying to lose weight to capture the heart of the woman he loves in Run, Fat Boy, Run.

As Run, Fat Boy, Run opens, Dennis does what a lot of guys like to joke they should have done on their wedding day: Run away—fast—and not look back.  

The scene is played for laughs in David Schwimmer’s (Friends) funny but formulaic directorial debut, and a look at Dennis’ screaming, pregnant fiancé in the background suggests she’s not the one at fault — Dennis is the one with the problems.

Five years later, Dennis (Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) has grown a visible paunch while working as a security guard for a women’s clothing store in London. He’s still in love with his ex-fiancé, Libby (Thandie Newton), but because of his childlike immaturity hasn’t tried to reconcile the relationship. And yet he’s still genuinely shocked when he learns Libby is dating Whit (Hank Azaria), an American who’s a better father figure to 5-year-old Jake (Matthew Fenton) than Dennis could ever be.

Determined to win Libby back and finish something for the first time in his life, Dennis decides to match Whit’s athletic prowess by competing in the 26.2-mile London marathon. So, because Dennis is terribly out of shape, he enlists his friend Gordon (Dylan Moran) and neighbor Mr. G (Harish Patel) to help him train. That neither has any idea how to whip him into shape is moot; the fear of Mr. G’s spatula would motivate anyone.  

Although Schwimmer occasionally resorts to gross-out gags and stupidity for laughs (squirting pus from a blister and humping a store mannequin), most of the film is a genuinely funny exercise in laziness and redemption. Gordon and Mr. G are hilarious throughout, and the typical sports-movie training montage is a nice sendup of Rocky and countless other films.

Pegg is a natural comedian who makes each fake laugh and awkward glance funny, and as Dennis, he’s such a pathetic idiot that we grow to like his earnest virtues. We may never understand what Libby saw in him in the first place, but that doesn’t diminish our desire to root for him.

Ordinarily, in a “get back” romantic comedy such as this, it would be obvious that Dennis and Libby truly belong together, but writers Pegg and Michael Ian Black (TV’s Ed) don’t make things that easy. For starters, Whit is a good guy, and he only becomes a jerk when he has every reason to, e.g., after Dennis makes it clear he’s trying to win Libby back. It’s also clear that Libby, who’s a caring, loving person and good mother, deserves better than Dennis. And although she’s never mean to him, we completely understand that he had his chance, blew it and she’s moved on.

Of course, genre conventions dictate that the logical, realistic thing not occur, leaving Schwimmer (who does not appear in the film) to assemble a pat ending to a movie that doesn’t quite have the gumption to stay true to itself. Fortunately, by this point, we’ve laughed enough that we can still enjoy the film by taking a cue from Libby: Forgive the shortcomings because the total package makes it worthwhile.