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Directed By
David Schwimmer
Written By:
Michael Ian Black, Simon Pegg
Cast:
Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria, Dylan Moran, Iddo Goldberg, Stephen Merchant, Jade Ramsey, Nikita Ramsey, David Walliams, India de Beaufort, Matthew Fenton, David Gatt, Deo Simcox, Anna Tolputt, David Walliams, Harish Patel, Ameet Chana, Yaourou Konate
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Run, Fat Boy, Run (2008)
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Movie Review by Zara 
March 29th, 2008
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Who woulda guessed that David Schwimmer would end up making such a good film? I mean, I know it doesn't hurt that Michael Ian Black and lead actor Simon Pegg co-wrote the script together. Or that Pegg is just magic in a bottle, this unassuming measure of a man that you can relate to, get irritated by, want to get to know, and want to kick in the nuts. You know... he seems like your best mate back from school.
What could have started out as being a very messy movie considering our lead's circumstances (he runs away and leaves her at the altar, pregnant with their child), is handled with the greatest of care by Schwimmer by introducing characters that you're meant to get involved in and distract you from some of the lower points of what this man has done.
Having the deliciously beautiful Thandie Newton play the jilted bride who graciously allows her ex-beau back into her life so that he can get a chance to be a proper father (something that he tries at, and by my estimates, if he's late on rent, it's because he's paying his child support primarily, which is a quiet, unspoken assumption that I derived from the flick) helps with the predicament, and while some people might not like her or the idea that she would be so - I wouldn't say forgiving as maybe... consenting - to Pegg still being around, to each their proverbial own.
The relationship between the father and son seems to be like an adolescent brother interacting with a child, but the bonding in the person-to-person interaction is what counts. Especially when Newton's new love interest (a charmingly eye-rolling fake good guy) come around bearing proclamations of love for the mother and child, and a bank roll to finance all their needs.
Obviously Pegg starts a pissing match with the man who is stepping between his long and perilous journey in trying to win back his baby mama's heart, and the movie supposedly is focused on his decision to run against the guy in the London Marathon.
In reality, it's about a man who needs to figure out how to get the avenues in his life to intersect properly. That takes the dead-beat, gambling cousin of his baby mama, his kind-hearted Indian upstairs neighbor (who in a simple scene nails Pegg's character's reason for running from the altar, calmly making sense to not just Pegg but any doubters in the audience) and a drive to win back first the love and respect of his son.
There are the obvious jokes and there are the subtle ones and the MPAA must have all been big fans of "Friends" because a whole lot of naked rear end ends (har har) up in the movie. Makes me wonder what the first submission was like and what might have possibly been cut out. (Schwimmer has said that during Hank's locker room scene, he was given the option to wear a "pouch" which would cover his twig and berries, but allow his rear to be filmed. Hank opted to go without, and Schwimmer says that every reaction shot from Pegg is him really looking at Hank's junk.)
I'm a softy at heart, so I was tearing up toward the end, when the marathon has started and things go... well... as they go. I was especially delighted that when that wall was hit, it was Pegg himself on the other side coaxing himself through it, but his son and love getting him to the finish line.
A great companion piece to this flick is the movie BIG NOTHING, which starred Pegg and Schwimmer together.
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 | Zombie Boy
Mar 29, 2008 6:18 PM
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| I didn't read this. I am waiting 'til Tuesday to see it, when I can get a free poppin' corn. |
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Mar 29, 2008 8:31 PM