Seen on: March 28, 2008

The players: Director: David Schwimmer, Writers: Simon Pegg, Michael Ian Black, Cast: Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria, Thandie Newton, Ameet Chana, Dylan Moran

Facts of interest: David Schwimmer, the director, played Dr. Ross Geller on "Friends."

The plot: A clueless, overweight security guard (Pegg) decides to get his life together and run a marathon to win back his ex-fiancée.

Our quick thoughts: Ever wondered what happened to the guy who played Dr. Ross Geller on “Friends”? It’s hard to believe, but David Schwimmer spent most of 2006 working on his directorial debut “Run, Fat Boy, Run,” a British comedy about an ignorant, chubby security guard named Dennis (Simon Pegg), who decides to run a marathon to win back the love of his life. Dennis could have avoided the trouble if he hadn’t left his pregnant fiancée (played by Thandie Newton) at the altar five years earlier, but now that she’s dating Whit (Hank Azaria), a rich banker, he’s really determined to put his past behind him once and for all. 

“Run Fat Boy, Run” could have easily been a funny, heartwarming story, but the filmmakers messed it up by stuffing the script with too much slapstick and stale, repetitive humor. The story line is standard material and most of it is rather boring and not worth getting too excited about. Dennis has an Indian landlord whose eccentric behavior is supposed to make the audience crack up, but it fails to do so. On top of that, Simon watches with disgust how Whit tries to score with his ex-fiancée, thinking naively she would take him back if he completed the marathon.

The second part of the film focuses on Dennis gearing up for the big run, but none of this is particularly funny either. Even the few hilarious scenes from the trailer seem less exciting now that they’re in context of the film. On a different note, once the actual marathon finally kicks off, the pace of the plot increases and “Run, Fat Boy, Run” takes a turn for the better. To be honest, one of the primary reasons for this sudden improvement is because the actors don’t get to talk much. Here, Schwimmer proves his directing skills, but I wish he would not have waited until the end of the film.

Simon Pegg does his best to stand out in the lead role and he clearly carries the film on his shoulders, even though the script (which he co-wrote with Michael Ian Black) supplies him with poor dialogue. As Dennis’ fiancée, Thandie Newton looks lost and fails to put more effort in her role. I would even go as far and say she did a better job in Eddie Murphy’s disastrous comedy “Norbit.” And as for Hank Azaria, well… I’d rather watch him jump back into the fabulous role of the Spanish playboy in Joe Roth’s “America’s Sweethearts.” 

Freaky quote: "I can lose weight... but you'll always be an arsehole!” – Simon Pegg

The final word: All in all, “Run, Fat Boy, Run” doesn’t run fast enough. The film shows exhaustion early on, and the sudden boost in the plot’s pace shows up too late. Pegg tries his best and provokes a few smiles every now and then, but there’s only so much he can do. Trying to save a film from disaster proves to be a little harder than running a marathon.