Simon Pegg is one of the funniest guys working today. Most of us have seen and enjoyed his two previous movies, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. Run, Fat Boy, Run is a different direction for Simon, and I’m pleased to say he made the transition well. I know the thought of Simon changing up the routine might scare a few of you, but he’s still the same old Simon. He’s still got great comedic timing and a good deadpan delivery. But in this movie, he adds the physical comedy element in. And I’m surprised at how well he pulled it off.
With physical comedy it’s pretty easy to go overboard (see: Carey, Jim), but Simon does it well. Still, that’s not all the humor of the movie. Simon still has good lines and just plain funny situations.
Also, like his previous movies, he’s not the only funny person in the film. Although he doesn’t have good buddy Nick Frost along side, Dylan Moran fills in marvelously. You may remember Dylan as David in Shaun of the Dead. In RFBR Dylan plays Simon’s best friend and he also happens to be Libby’s (Thandie Newton) cousin. And he really shines in this one. He’s got off the wall lines that are sometimes sick but just outright hilarious. His facial expressions sell the jokes even more. I make a motion that we need more Dylan Moran in our movies.
So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, on to the movie. Predictable, yeah, you could say that. And it’s actually kind of disappointing in that respect. New director, good actors, they could have taken the movie where it starts out and been just fine, but they decided to double over and give it the Hollywoodified ending. Even if they wouldn’t have went that way it still could have had the same feel good moral of improving oneself.
The movie starts on Simon and Thandie’s wedding day, Simon freaks out and runs away with Thandie screaming at him. Did I mention she’s pregnant during their wedding? Fast forward five years. Thandie has moved on, Simon hasn’t. So when Simon finds out Thandie’s new boyfriend (Hank Azaria) is running a marathon for charity, he decides to run the marathon to win back Thandie. See where I’m going with the whole predictable thing. What real life couple would this work for? Guy leaves a woman pregnant at the altar and still has a chance to win her back. Come on.
And since he has only 3 weeks to get ready for the marathon you know what this movie needs? That’s right…Montage.
The film-making of the movie isn’t that great. It’s not terrible, nothing the normal viewer will notice as terrible, and nothing the critical eye will notice as fantastic.
Run, Fat Boy, Run is presented in 1.78:1 Widescreen format as well as standard Fullscreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
About five minutes of deleted scenes, and they’re not so much deleted as just extended.
Commentary with Simon, Thandie, Simon’s Mom, and Director David Schwimmer
A quick 2 minute “Goof” where Simon is getting ready for an interview and Thandie switches his water for Vodka.
The 6 minute outtake clip is pretty good.
And there’s a trailer for the movie. I’ve never quite understood putting the trailer for the movie on the movie, but whatever.
Overall, this is one of the funniest movies of the year. Simon Pegg strikes again, and personally I think this is his best movie to date. Dylan Moran is great, and solid performances from Hank Azaria and Thandie Newton make this a pretty much must own.
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