Release Date: March 28
Director: David Schwimmer
Writers: Michael Ian Black, Simon Pegg
Cinematographer: Richard Greatrex
Starring: Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria
Studio/Run Time: Picturehouse Entertainment, 97 mins.
Schwimmer’s directorial debut a satisfying affair
It’s no surprise that David Schwimmer, best known for his role as “Ross” on Friends, would pick a comedy for his directorial debut. What is surprising is that it’s a British comedy. Simon Pegg plays a loveable loser who left his pregnant fiancée (Thandie Newton) at the altar five years ago; in an attempt to win her back from her rich, successful boyfriend (Hank Azaria), he announces that he’ll run the London Marathon.
Run, Fatboy, Run lives comfortably in the company of other male-driven British romantic comedies. Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) isn’t exactly Hugh Grant, but he’s awkward and amusing, and Azaria-the-chameleon (The Simpsons) plays the charming snake well. While the tale doesn’t induce many outright guffaws, it does elicit grins, and the marathon-based plot is just inventive enough to lurch sidelong when you’re not expecting it. Coupled with a few truly heartwarming moments, Run, Fatboy, Run is satisfyingly entertaining.
Click here to read Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson’s feature on the prank wars that ensued on the Fatboy set.