Run, Fat Boy, Run

[Guest AG/DC]

A sad sack failure pins his hopes for personal and romantic redemption on his ability to complete a marathon, despite beginning his training only weeks before.

Cue the ensuing of hilarity.

[metsmarathon]

i'm a sad sack who's run a marathon on mere weeks of training, and in one case, on no training whatsoever the preceding month.

yet no movies get made about me. am i not interesting enough?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

marathon - "i'm a sad sack who's run a marathon on mere weeks of training, and in one case, on no training whatsoever the preceding month.

yet no movies get made about me. am i not interesting enough?"

Not fat enough.

[metsmarathon]

maybe not, but my BMI says "overweight", and i'm certain i outweigh the scrawny brit with the belly by a fair amount.

[Guest AG/DC]

Well, more than one review I've read will tell you that David Schwimmer has more to offer as a director than as an actor, but I'm certain that's a backhanded compliment from critics who've grown tired of his hangdog act. This film is loaded with the cliches of a man raised in sitcoms, including characters that go to work early on just for expository purposes and are miraculously freed from ever having to report for work again.

Why he decided to pick a British subject for a debut is a puzzler, except that I guess he likes these sort of movies from Great Britain and wanted to work with Simon Pegg. It's more Hollywood than anything else though, with a lot of elements seemed lifted whole-hog out of other films, including a goofy Indian family with reference to Bend It Like Beckham (but drenched more deeply in cheap comic sterotype), an underground gambling den full of an eclectic blend of exotic scuzzbags taken from Rounders, and the romantic rival pursuing his ex and son and threatening to move being a variation on a similar character and conflict from Night at the Museum. Pegg himself seems to be assigned to bring the same exact character and conflict he broke through with in Shaun of the Dead, a goodhearted manchild partly unable and partly unwilling to let go of his youthful freedom, leaving him underemployed, and romantically tossed back.

Unoriginal elements often lead to unoriginal gags and lines --- "I may be fat, but I can lose weight, and you'll always be an asshole!" HAR! --- but, as Dennis, Pegg goes a long way toward making this watchable. Few John Cusacks in history have shown such natural ability to create protagonists so identifiable to the huge class of men whose personal growth is retarded by insecure clinging to ideas of themselves they should have let go of, and the fear of being just another asshole. Like many a Cusack character, Pegg is outfitted in an array of old rock shirts that betray how cool he thought he once was, and you just know he can't throw them out because it would be letting go of the last time he respected himself.

Hank Azaria brings more annoyance than anything else as the romantic rival right out of Friends, but one thing a guy like Dennis has is the ability to cut down an asshole. He has a shitty job and a shitty flat, so what's he got to lose by calling it like it is? But when his ex and his son are at stake, he's forced to make nice, which Azaria makes difficult.

So yeah, the thing is uninspired, but, thanks to Pegg, not uninspiring. While I wouldn't tell you to go out and see it NOW!!!!, on that third day in a row you've promised and failed to start your new exercise regimen, this might be the rental for you. (I remember thinking back in my school days how Back to School was a dumb-ass movie, but there's a worse way to start a semester.) As Dennis plows through the marathon, you're right there with him feeling the excruciating pain. When he hits the wall, there's this internal moment where sad sack desperate Dennis stares forward absolutely defeated and terrified, but another Dennis appears and urges him on, not with his lumpkin face from Shaun of the Dead but with the cold steely confidence of his Nick Angel character from Hot Fuzz.

That's cool. There's no way you're going to get off your fat ass and run that marathon unless you believe there's a little Nick inside your Shaun.

Excuse me. I'm off to the gym.

[DocTee]

That's cool. There's no way you're going to get off your fat ass and run that marathon unless you believe there's a little Nick inside your Shaun.

I one had a little nick inside of my shaun-- took a few stitches and a bandaid, but it soon healed nicely

[Guest AG/DC]

Hey, look what I found.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

No way.

Swaer I'd never heard of this flick until I saw it the vid store.

It's the reason not to go there without a plan.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

You were more forgiving of this shit than I was, though I agree Pegg was good and did his best to rise above it.

I also got a big laugh out of the fistfight scene, but geez. A complete piece of shit.