David Schwimmer, Run Fatboy Run

Photo Credit: Picturehouse

by Kathryn Durfee
03/29/2008

We shouldn't like Dennis Doyle. He's slovenly, working a dead-end job, and for reasons unknown, left his pregnant fiancée at the altar. But somehow, Dennis manages to capture our hearts from the beginning, and we cheer him on until the end.

Run Fatboy Run, former Friends star David Schwimmer's directorial debut, has heart, humor, and a happy ending. The only thing the film lacks is a fatboy. When we first meet Dennis, he is running away from his wedding. Catching up with him five years later, he is a security guard running (a little more slowly) after a thief. Now, sporting a beer belly, Dennis is far from the obese creature one would expect from the title. As he puts it, "I'm not fat. I'm just unfit."

When he realizes that his ex Libby (Thandie Newton) is the love of his life, he decides to win her back. Enter Whit (Hank Azaria), Libby's new boyfriend. He seems to have it all; he's good looking, wealthy, and he even runs marathons for charity. Unable to compete with Whit in the former departments, Denny decides to run the marathon to prove to Libby that he has changed and is worthy of her love. No one believes he can do it; Libby even tells him, "You can't even finish a sentence." And so begins Denny's difficult and at times hilarious transformation from slob to svelte (well, sort of).

Run Fatboy Run is not a work of art, nor should you expect it to be. The film has its fair share of gross-out humor and slapstick comedy, but neither element pushes the limit to become ridiculous or pointless (as most Apatow comedies have). The scene in which Dennis and his best friend Gordon (Dylan Moran) confront a nasty blister on Dennis's foot will remind viewers of the hair gel scene in There's Something About Mary; you'll squirm at first, but later laugh as the cryptic Dylan declares, "That's the second grossest fluid I've ever had in my eye."

One of the best features of Fatboy is that Dennis's transformation, encouraged and augmented by his buddy Gordon, a gambler with a lot of money riding on his friend's ability to compete the marathon, and his large and perpetually annoyed landlord, Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel), who brings both advice and a spatula to the training process, is completely believable. Though Dennis matures emotionally over the course of the film, seemingly triggered by the appearance of Whit, the changes in his attitude and physique are not impossible to go along with. He maintains his foibles: he oversleeps, he refuses to give up smoking and junk food, and even on the day of the big race, he doesn't look that great in running shorts.

Simon Pegg, the star and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, once again plays both the leading man and the scribe. Though the story for Run Fatboy Run started with comedian Michael Ian Black and was originally set in America, Simon Pegg did rewrites when the film received funding from British company Entertainment Film Distributors.

Pegg's performance as Denny makes the movie. He is a guy's guy, an everyman, and the perfect Joe Average. His ability to communicate frustration, happiness, anger, and determination through simple gestures and glances is priceless. His expressions make the light situational humor of Fatboy laugh-out-loud funny, all while maintaining a very realistic portrayal of a man in his position.

In addition, he is set against a great cast. Dylan Morgan's Gordon is equally hapless but sticks by his friend until the finish line. Harish Patel is likewise well-cast as the disgruntled landlord. His advice is a little strange, but he offers Dennis heartfelt support nonetheless. Fans of Little Britain will appreciate the scene in which Mr. Goshdashtidar appears as a paraplegic to help Dennis get into the marathon.

And then there's Azaria's Whit. For the first half of the film, Whit is an effective contrast of Dennis and a perfect nemesis. By the end, however, his part becomes overdone and exaggerated. Whit is transformed into a character so similar to a cartoon villain that I expected to see him twisting a thin black mustache while tying a screaming Libby to some train tracks.

Aside from being formulaic and at times overdone, Run Fatboy Run doesn't disappoint. Schwimmer's big screen debut shows the influence of classics like Rocky and The Graduate (check out all of the song montages), along with '90s comedies like There's Something About Mary. One one level, Fatboy is both an inspirational film centered on one man's desire to make himself better. On the other, this film is a friendly jab at underdog and sports movies. Though not as well-crafted as Shaun or as complex as Fuzz, Fatboy fits will within Pegg's canon.

By the end of the film, Dennis is still running. The difference now is that he's running towards something instead of away from it, which is an important distinction to make.