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Run, Fat Boy, Run
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 24 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Michael Ian Black
Simon Pegg
Directed by: David Schwimmer
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 28, 2008
DVD: September 23, 2008
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: UK / USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some rude and sexual humor, nudity, language and smoking
Starring Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria, Thandie Newton, Dylan Moran, Matthew Fenton, and Harish Patel
Dennis is an ordinary guy. He's a little overweight and he smokes, but he's nice, charming, and unassuming. But five years ago, Dennis did something that wasn't so nice. On his wedding day to his pregnant fiancée, Libby, Dennis did a runner. He just couldn't go through with it. Now, Dennis realizes he made a big mistake. He's still in love with Libby. He still sees her all the time because of Jake, their son, but all romantic ties have been severed. Libby's now seeing Whit, a charming professional from the city, and Dennis immediately dislikes him. Whit is casual, easygoing, successful, and good with Jake, much to Dennis' annoyance. In a last-ditch effort to prove to Libby that he's changed his ways, Dennis impulsively announces at her birthday party that he will run in the same London marathon that Whit has been training for. But does Dennis have the stuff to trade his cold feet for running shoes? (Picturehouse)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Claudia Puig
Amiable, consistently amusing and surprisingly affecting, it has the flavor of a Nick Hornby novel, with its focus on an overgrown boy struggling to grow up and be a man.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Filled with moments that will make you smile.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
David Schwimmer's first bigscreen directing effort reveals something very different: a thoroughly competent mainstream craftsman who imposes no individual character on formulaic material.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jim Ridley
Pegg has staked out a peculiar slant on genre material that ventures beyond irony toward rehabilitation--and nobody plays blithe humiliation with more style.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Run, Fat Boy, Run stays out of sitcom quicksand long enough to make you think that Schwimmer has a knack for this comedy-directing thing.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Suggestion: When making a film called Run Fat Boy Run, how about hiring a fat boy?
Read Full Review >The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz
The kind of movie that’s apt to be dismissed a goofy lark. It is that. But it’s also a rare comedy that believes in its own message, and that could inspire the depressed and the demoralized to grit their teeth and keep running.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
If you can get past its toothpick of a premise, Run Fatboy Run is a perfectly enjoyable light comedy. It's also just good enough that I wanted it be better.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore
The pic benefits from a loveable-loser turn by Simon Pegg, but the "Shaun of the Dead" star's presence may also lead to disappointment for those familiar with his work.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Fatboy nearly succeeds in spite of itself, thanks to Pegg, who makes a character who does some detestable things seem strangely likeable.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
The humor tends toward the mildly crass -- bare buttocks and inappropriate scratching are Schwimmer's go-to comedy staples -- and the story is ridiculous. But Pegg, who co-wrote the script, plays to his strengths. You can't help but root for the loser.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Simon Pegg, of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz," is onscreen almost constantly in Run Fatboy Run, and his mugging and smirking and preening wear out their welcome fast.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour
Snarkiness and sentiment are in constant battle for supremacy throughout Run, Fat Boy, Run with no chance of a comfortable draw.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
I wouldn’t believe that Run, Fat Boy, Run was co-written by Simon Pegg (of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) if he weren’t up there on the screen in teeny briefs and with his gut stuck out, trying to endear himself to the American audience in material maybe a notch above Rob Schneider’s.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
One of the problems with the new comedy Run, Fat Boy, Run is that it’s not English enough, even though its antagonist is a thoroughly detestable American go-getter.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The film's bright spot is Irish comedian Dylan Moran, who plays Libby's charmingly dissolute cousin and who also happens to be Dennis' best friend. He's fresh, unpredictable and genuinely funny -- everything the film isn't.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It lacks the invention of Pegg's comedies with Edgar Wright, which buzz and crackle with ideas and energy. This one simply plods through, just like Dennis. Only Pegg's doggedness gets this effort across the finish line.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee
Its peculiar strain of anti-Americanism aside, Run, Fat Boy, Run tries to bridge the gap between self-deprecating Brits and self-aggrandizing Yanks, settling down somewhere between the two. Don't ask me where, exactly, but this mid-Atlantic meeting point is an ultra-neutral zone.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The result is tepid humor and a less-than-compelling feel-good story of redemption and re-kindled romance.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
This British rom-com is all soft and plodgy, a by-the-numbers redemption tale that careens uncomfortably from sentimentality to stomach-turning sight gags.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Rather like the faltering way Dennis runs the race, Pegg the performer insists that we keep watching, ever hopeful for a decent gag. And we spend most of our time thinking back to movies that better showcased his talents, such as "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz."
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Dylan Moran has a few funny moments as Pegg's shiftless pal, and Mike Leigh regular Ruth Sheen puts in an all-too-brief appearance.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
Every ounce of comedy is so forced and full-on ridiculous that when characters express even a smidgen of sentiment, it feels like a parody. That's because nothing in "Fatboy" feels real.
Read Full Review >Premiere Glenn Kenny
The heretofore nothing-but-delightful Simon Pegg stumbles in the long-anticipated feature film directorial debut of -- ta-da! -- David Schwimmer, who takes the sow's ear of a script given him by Pegg and Michael Ian Black and deep-fries it into a burnt pork rind of a movie.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Simon Pegg has what it takes, but he's saddled himself with a script (co-written by Pegg and Michael Ian Black) that Adam Sandler wouldn't have pulled out of his bottom drawer.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Might as well have been written by a rushed piece of software. The program calls for a surprise engagement, a street fight complete with crotch punches, an apartment eviction, and a runaway child - all in about five minutes. As an obstacle course, this is mighty efficient. As comic storytelling, it's painful, not too far from being socked in the crotch.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ken H. gave it a10:
Great movie to watch with a girlfriend. It's funny and lighthearted all the way through. Simon Pegg is awesome.
Chad S. gave it a7:
Dennis(Simon Pegg) could be the narrator in The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be(500 Miles)", who "...walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door," which the hapless security guard at a woman's boutique almost literally does in "Run, Fatboy, Run", a faux-Brit comedy(a sort of "Rocky" in the U.K.) that walks in the footsteps of the inspirational sports movie, before branching off on its own. Dennis enters the marathon to win back the love and respect of a jilted bride-that-was(Thandie Newton), and go toe-to-toe with her new well-to-do fiance(Hank Azaria) from America. Winning is still the goal, but this time, the prize is a woman's heart. As Dennis tries to prove his worth to Libby, the loser's redemption is two-fold, because "Run, Fatboy, Run", as a narrative, is doing the same for its audience. Are you in total agreement with the film's rhetoric that Dennis deserves a kind and beautiful woman such as Libby? When Dennis gets up from the pavement after his running collision with Whit(which subtly recalls the end-result of Rocky Balboa's rematch against Apollo Creed in "Rocky II"), "Run, Fatboy, Run" will test your heart for hopeless romanticism.
Steve Z. gave it a1:
Horrible horrible horrible. Corny story (like a Nick Hornby reject) and brutally stupid jokes all the way through. Simon Pegg can do better. As far as the comedy Americans not being ready for the "different comedy style. A little slower and drier wit." Since when so lame ass and wiener jokes meet that description?
John F. gave it a10:
I enjoyed this movie so much more than I thought I would. It was a lot funnier than the previews led me to think it would be, with some surprisingly good acting and even some touching moments of real drama. Simon Pegg is a brilliant talent. Basically anything he does is hilarious, and when called to perform some actual drama, he pulls it off in a way few comedic actors can. I loved this movie from begining to end. However, if you go in expecting it to be in the same style as "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" you will be dissappointed. If you go in just expecting a good, solid, romantic comedy that is a cut above the normal fare of that genre, you will be in for a pleasant surprise. I loved this movie!
Tony S. gave it an8:
I'm not sure what movie the rest of you saw, cause I loved this one! I don't see many Romantic-Comedies so I'll have to take your word that it seemed "text book". I enjoyed it (and so did everyone else at the theater I went to Yesterday).
Tom L. gave it a1:
A poor movie. Insipid in every way.
Andrew H. gave it a9:
Saw this movie in england. Very funny! It isn't simon pegg's best but it is very good. Good acting and a okay story. Im not sure if American audiences are ready for the diffrent comedy style. A little slower and drier witt. David schwimmer does americanize it somewhat.
