| 75 |
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.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Ruthe Stein
Filled with moments that will make you smile.
|
| 70 |
Film Threat
Zack Haddad
Schwimmer impresses with this film.
|
| 70 |
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.
|
| 70 |
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.
|
| 63 |
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.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Suggestion: When making a film called Run Fat Boy Run, how about hiring a fat boy?
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| 60 |
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.
|
| 60 |
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.
|
| 60 |
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.
|
| 58 |
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.
|
| 58 |
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.
|
| 58 |
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.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
| 50 |
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.
|
| 50 |
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The result is tepid humor and a less-than-compelling feel-good story of redemption and re-kindled romance.
|
| 40 |
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.
|
| 40 |
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."
|
| 40 |
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.
|
| 38 |
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.
|
| 38 |
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.
|
| 25 |
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.
|
| 25 |
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.
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