Let’s be honest – if you were to scout Shaun of the Dead for the lead actor in a film titled Run Fatboy Run, the odds are that the choice would not be the stick-skinny Simon Pegg, but his portlier pal, Nick Frost.
Despite this unusual casting choice for the film’s titular part, Run Fatboy Run manages to find some success – even while falling squarely into the typical romantic comedy formula.
Pegg plays Dennis, a schlub very similar to the role he played in Shaun of the Dead. The movie opens with him leaving his pregnant wife, Libby (Thandie Newton, Norbit) moments before they were to hit the altar.
Fast forward a few years. Libby and the couple’s son, Jake (Matthew Fenton), are living together and Libby has a new boyfriend, Whit (Hank Azaria, The Simpsons Movie), whom she’s beginning to get serious with.
It’s clear at this point that Run Fatboy Run will follow the formula of boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy has to fight to get girl back.
Whit exemplifies success and acts as the perfect foil to Dennis, who doesn’t do much with himself. Dennis works at a woman’s lingerie shop as a security guard and gets his exercise chasing cross-dressers. In contrast, Whit is a high-level businessman who competes in marathons for fun.
Of course, this is the logical place in the story to find the conflict. And lo and behold, Dennis decides to compete in the Nike River Run, a marathon that Whit is already competing in, to try and win back Libby’s heart.
To get there, he enlists the help of his pal Gordon, (Dylan Moran, Shaun of the Dead) and his landlord, Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel, Chicken Tikki Masala) to help him train for the race.
While, at first glance, Mr. Ghoshdashtidar’s casting seems to be an amalgamation of Indian clichés, the character does offer some funny segments during training and even shares some emotional, touching moments with Dennis.
But there are plenty of typically broad comedy moves here too. For example, Dennis falls down the stairs after a spin class with Whit that leaves his legs wobbly, and in another scene, he develops a baseball-sized blister on his foot after running. When Gordon happily pops the blister with a nail and ends up with a face full of pus, it’s typical stupid comedy, but that doesn’t make it totally humorless.
Most of the scenes in which Dennis and Gordon interact score big. The pair has a great chemistry, and work just as well as best friends here as they did as total enemies in Shaun of the Dead.
Ultimately, the chemistry is what brings Run Fatboy Run out of the depths of totally garbage romantic comedy. All of the actors seem to have fun alongside each other, and this makes for an enjoyable ride for the audience. Azaria clearly enjoys playing the foil to Pegg, and the scenes in which Whit and Dennis compete are highly amusing.
And while Pegg isn’t the typically handsome Hugh Grant type that normally takes on these roles, the scenes between him and Newton are believable. There is no leap of faith that a beautiful woman would fall for Pegg – whether it’s his unmistakable charm or the pair’s simple ease with one another, there is something between the two of them that succeeds both on-screen and for the audience.
Though Run Fatboy Run isn’t a stellar romantic comedy from a script standpoint, it does have strong performances from its actors. The fun that Pegg, Azaria, Patel and Moran all have adds laughs to the script, and though this doesn’t save the film from being overly contrived, it does make what could have been a horrible film horribly funny.
Tripp.Laino@yahoo.com
RATING: 3.5 STARS OUT OF 5
