Plot
Five years after jilting his pregnant fiancée on their wedding day, out-of-shape Dennis decides to run a marathon to win her back.

Release Year: 2007

Rating: 6.7/10 (36,704 voted)

Critic's Score: 48/100

Director: David Schwimmer

Stars: Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria

Storyline
Dennis is a clueless and slightly overweight guy, who left his pregnant fiancée five years earlier. Every day, Dennis tries to persuade the woman he loves to accept him back into his life, but everyday he fails. When he discovers that Libby has found a partner in the form of American Whit, frustration grows, and Dennis vows, that for once in his life, he will finish something. This something ends up being a Nike River-run in London. With his friends Gordon and Mr. Ghoshdashtidar by his side, Dennis begins training for the marathon he must finish.

Writers: Michael Ian Black, Simon Pegg

Cast:
Simon Pegg - Dennis
Thandie Newton - Libby
Hank Azaria - Whit
Dylan Moran - Gordon
Harish Patel - Mr. Goshdashtidar
India de Beaufort - Maya Goshdashtidar
Matthew Fenton - Jake
Simon Day - Vincent
Ruth Sheen - Claudine
Tyrone Huggins - Grover
Nevan Finegan - Mickey
Iddo Goldberg - News Reporter
Ameet Chana - Taxi Driver
Chris Hollins - Himself
Denise Lewis - Herself

Taglines: Love. Commitment. Responsibility. There's nothing he can't run away from.

Official Website: Official site [uk] | Picturehouse [United States] |

Release Date: 28 March 2008

Filming Locations: Cannons Health Club, Endell Street, Covent Garden, London, England, UK

Opening Weekend: £2,010,250 (UK) (9 September 2007) (413 Screens)

Gross: $19,585,967 (Worldwide) (14 October 2007) (except USA)

Runtime: 100 min

Trivia:
Throughout the film there are several different cartoon versions of Dennis that appears as graffiti. Each represents Dennis' state of mind at that point in the movie. The easiest one to see is right after Dennis has the fight with Gordon. He runs around the corner and leans against a wall then slowly sinks to the ground. Behind him on the wall is a cartoon Dennis hanging from a tree representing his lowest ebb in the movie.

Goofs:
Continuity: In the picture of Dennis and Libby at the Halloween party the wall behind them is plain white, but during the scene where the picture was supposedly taken the wall behind them is brick.

Quotes:
Gordon: Hey do you think it would be weird if I took a bath?
[pause]
Gordon: Yeah... that would be weird.

Enjoyable silliness

Rating: 7/10

Occasionally when editors send reviewers a list of new and upcoming films, a kind a war-weariness can set in: even more so when one's gut feeling suggests an obvious divide between worthwhile cinema and the barrage of rather missable comedy. Even more so when a film in question has not risked journalistic censure by having an advance press screening. I am not one of the many people who thrilled excitedly to Simon Pegg's efforts in Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. And I was even less impressed the last time he joined forces with David Schwimmer in Big Nothing. So it was with a feeling almost of self-sacrifice that I volunteered to sit through Run, Fat Boy, Run. Which doesn't even have car chases or zombies to recommend it.

The surprise was that it is actually quite good.

Simon Pegg studied drama at university but earned his spurs in working life as a stand-up comedian. Which perhaps explains why his timing is so split-second perfect. The gags in Run, Fat Boy, Run are not that remarkable. At times you can even see them coming. But the performance and skillful delivery is so polished that they are entertaining anyway.

Run, Fat Boy, Run uses a formula that has served Pegg and his growing fan base well: he is the nerd who eventually turns hero. We feel sorry for him, irritated by him, repelled by him. He's the well-meaning hopeless case we just want to 'fix'. So the audience is relieved and rooting for him by the time he makes good. We are fully behind him by the time he makes his resolve that he is "sick of being a 'nearly-man'." In this present incarnation, Pegg (Dennis) has an attack of nerves just before getting married. He runs out on his gorgeous wife-to-be Libby (played by Thandie Newton) - literally - running off as she stands in the road in full bridal dress. And pregnant.

Five years later, Dennis is working as a security guard at a women's clothing store. The predictable jokes are spoon-fed us faultlessly. Pegg rescues any situation that threatens to become too silly by a look of open sincerity (rather like Ricky Gervais does with political humour). But Pegg seems to have an instinctual grasp of cinema that enables him to extract the best results from his material. On a hot Saturday afternoon, and with strong competition from much publicised movies, the auditorium was fairly packed.

The second theme from the film's title comes from Dennis' decision to run the London marathon. This is mostly to 'prove' something to Libby (for whom he has now discovered undying love) but also to win a bet for his mates and to prove himself equal to Libby's super-fit, super-rich, super-handsome suitor, Whit. His five-year old son provides the magic glue to pull all the elements of the story together.

In a wise choice, the filmmakers avoid anything that might belittle the Marathon (given that many UK viewers may have a deep respect for the institution). But they also bring in much underused and very photogenic shots of London en-route - particularly the Docklands area.

With such a vanilla story line, Run, Fat Boy, Run is relying on Pegg's reputation to pull in audiences. I suspect that many of his fans may be occasional movie-goers who simply demand something light and untaxing. He has the ability to make a futile chase after stolen women's underwear amusing. When he seems to be rubbing himself off against a shop mannequin it could be a pathetic or tacky sketch in any other hands, but his wide-eyed expression and fast pacing move us from one joke to the next before we have time to analyse.

I wasn't bored. And I had expected to be. In fact I was laughing loudly. It reminded me of when JM Barrie had planted children in the audience of his first performance of Peter Pan. It helps to be in the company of people who see the joke. Run, Fat Boy, Run has not made me a convert to Pegg's brand of humour even if I enjoyed the film, but I have to admit that he is good at his job. Sometimes it is the difference between a sterile press screening and an audience of fans. On this occasion, marketing gets the benefit of the doubt.

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