RUN, FATBOY, RUN

By
Shannon Onstot
Community Relations Manager
KUNV 91.5 FM
University of Nevada Las Vegas
email: smonstot@yahoo.com

Run Fatboy Run is completely refreshing. This film is the perfect combination of slapstick, gross-out, heartwarming and witty comedy. It takes a relatable look at failed relationships and taking responsibility for your own actions, and the film doesn’t necessarily do this in a new or innovative way, but there’s no denying that it is brilliantly written, has great comedic timing and can be appealing to anybody.

Simon Pegg (from Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) stars in the film and co-wrote it with Michael Ian Black (of the comedy trio, Stella). Pegg plays Dennis Doyle, a man who left his bride, Libby (Thandie Newton), at the altar while she was pregnant. She hasn’t forgiven him, he hasn’t forgiven himself, and he lives a sad life that is only brightened by time he spends with his son. When Dennis finds out that Libby’s new boyfriend Whit (Hank Azaria) runs marathons, his best friend, Libby’s cousin Gordon (Dylan Moran) decides to help train him for the big race even though it’s only three weeks away and Dennis is very out of shape.

David Schwimmer (yes, the guy from Friends) makes his first real attempt at directing a film in Run Fatboy Run, and he really surprised me. You can see that he was very hands on - timing was very precise, but the cast all seemed very comfortable with each other and had a very natural chemistry. No one person stood out as being funnier than the rest, but they all had unique little quirks that made each character lovable or hateable for different reason. Also, with the exception of a horrifying blister-popping scene, no one scene stands out as being way funnier than the rest (the blister scene wasn’t all that funny in my opinion because I was too busy cringing, but most of the men in the audience were in stitches...to each his own I suppose). What I’m saying is that the really funny scenes were well paced, it wasn’t 20 minutes of boring then 30 seconds of hilarious. I was laughing consistently throughout, then there were quite a few times when that consistent laughter crescendos into hysterics.

All I can really stress is that this film is so fresh, and so uplifting without being cheesy. Comedy is such a hard thing to do correctly, and this is the first film I’ve seen in a long time that 1) didn’t have anything to do with Judd Apatow and 2) made me really genuinely laugh for 100 minutes straight. The plot is great, and doesn’t feel contrived, the relationships are believable, the characters are human and crazy without being over the top and I loved it. There’s something in me that doesn’t want to give this film 5 chicks though. Perhaps my critical mind is still cringing from that blister scene, but I really think that this film’s strength is not in that it did something new, but it did a combination of things that have already been done, and finally did them all right.