Run, Fatboy, Run

Run, Fatboy, Run

Directed by David Schwimmer

(PG-13)

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A shiftless man tries to win back his girlfriend by running a marathon.

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Run, Fatboy, Run is “coasting on empty,” said Cary Darling in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. David Schwimmer, still best known for his role as Ross on Friends, tries his hand at directing but fails with this formulaic and forgettable comedy. Yet thanks to a hilarious lead performance by British comedic actor Simon Pegg, his films turn out to be “better than it has a right to be.” Pegg plays a commitment-phobe who ditches his girlfriend at the altar and later runs back to her by training for a marathon in order to earn her admiration. Pegg’s greatest asset is his face, said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. He can “sprint from deadpan underreaction to pop-eyed overreaction in 0.8 seconds flat,” and this film gives him a forum to demonstrate his talents. Pegg may even have the potential to be a major comic leading man, said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. But he only hurts himself with a script that “Adam Sandler wouldn’t have pulled out of his bottom drawer.” The shoddy writing by Pegg and Michael Ian Black and Schwimmer’s “witless” direction leave the film with too many hurdles to overcome.