No, that's not your spin class.The funniest thing about this movie is its title. Other than that, the talents of Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria are totally wasted. It is corny from the second it starts, and the corn never stops. Fat Boy is schmaltzy, poorly written, not-so-well acted and just plain BORING! This movie is insidious and not in a good way. It is vapidly tedious to the hilt.
From the first minute, you know exactly how it will end. The main character Dennis (Pegg) leaves his pregnant girlfriend Libby (Newton) at the altar, literally running away. Cut to five years later and Dennis is out of shape, smokes a lot and has unexplained visitation rights to see his son. Enter Libby's new boyfriend Whit (Azaria) who's rich, successful and runs marathons. In order to win back his girlfriend, Dennis decides to run a marathon. Maybe this looked good on paper; on screen it's unbearable.
Do ya think he'll run the race? Do ya think the new boyfriend will be a jerk? Do ya think he will hurt himself and finish the race anyway? Do ya think we'll get touching moments with Dennis bonding with his son? Sadly, this movie tries to win hearts and fails. I found myself retching at the unoriginality. I can't remember seeing anything so empty and hollow.
The sickeningly cuteness factor reigns and the wacky sidekick characters become cartoons, especially Mr. Goshdashtidar, the hefty Indian landlord (Harish Patel). There's a vast array of colorful background characters ignored and undeveloped. There are subplots (gambling, addiction, dysfunction) that could have been explored, but instead it all amounts to a goody-good Hallmark card that says, "get well soon," "have a nice day," and "mean people suck."
Pegg was hilarious in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Here he tries but has nothing to work with. Wild humor is replaced with capsulated cornball crap. Gordon (Dylan Moran) attempts to liven things up, but even his flamboyant character falls flat, unless you want to see his naked butt. Azaria shows off his physique again, but just doesn't fare well in the straight guy roles-he's Moe the Bartender on The Simpsons fer crying out-loud. Thandie Newton is simply backdrop filler.
Fat Boy is shot in London, marking David Schwimmer's directorial debut. As far as directing goes, he's almost invisible.
There is really no life in this movie. It probably did what it set out to do, tell a simple story and make a few people laugh, but it will bore the crap out of everyone else. There was so much potential to make Run, Fat Boy, Run entertaining. Perhaps the best thing would have been not to make it at all.
