Fatboys Don’t Cry

When interviewed about his show Fawlty Towers, John Cleese was asked why the audience would invariably side with Basil Fawlty, the rude, bigoted hotel owner who was the show’s protagonist. Cleese answered that it was because audiences feel loyalty to the characters that make them laugh. He cited W.C. Fields as another example of an actor who played irredeemable characters yet was still won audience approval.

In the tradition of Basil Fawlty and W.C. Fields comes Dennis, the hero of Run Fatboy Run, played by Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Dennis is a born loser who five years ago on his wedding day had a breakdown and left his pregnant fiancée Libby (Thandie Newton) at the altar. Five years later, working as a security guard and living in a crummy basement apartment, he mournfully regrets his decision, and pines to be reunited with Libby. But Libby has found a new man in Whit (Hank Azaria), a millionaire and jogging enthusiast. As a last-ditch attempt to win over his former love, Dennis announces that he will run the London marathon, despite the fact that he is completely out of shape and has never done anything so ambitious in his life.

There is no reason to side with Dennis. He did a terrible thing to his fiancée, and it should be obvious that Whit is the better man. But dammit…Whit’s just too self-absorbed, humourless, and, well, perfect. This movie pulls of the tricky feat of making us side with Dennis, the self-absorbed guy who at least makes us laugh.

This movie is like an old Abbott and Costello or Jerry Lewis vehicle where the plot is secondary to providing a showcase for the star. The script, credited to Pegg and Michael Ian Black, makes some halfhearted attempts at spoofing underdog films like Rocky, but falls victim to the same clichés that plague the films it mocks. Things get particularly dire during the final few scenes, a contrived trip to cornytown. Though the film’s Toronto Film Festival pedigree and modest 1,000-screen release would indicate a film with independent/art house spirit, Run Fatboy Run is a popcorn romantic comedy of the most mainstream kind.

But the film has its good points, not least the performances by Pegg, Azaria, and Dylan Moran, from the TV show Black Books, who plays Pegg’s best friend. Also surprisingly effective is the direction by David Schwimmer. Yes, that David Schwimmer. Apart from a few shorts and some episodes of Friends and Joey, this is his directorial debut, and he acquits himself admirably. This type of sitcom material is normally saddled with a pedestrian visual style, but Schwimmer’s relatively gritty handheld aesthetic mixes well with the lower middle class locations that Pegg inhabits. Schwimmer directs the material as if it were drama—a smart move, since we all know the first rule of comedy is not to stress to the audience that the material is FUNNY.

Run Fatboy Run has some good laughs and moves along briskly and efficiently, and in Pegg it has an excellent comic actor who deserves to be a major North American star. What the film does it does competently, and should you choose to see it, you’ll be entertained. But after the ingenuity of Hot Fuzz, there’s a shade of disappointment in seeing Pegg in such a routine enterprise. This film will be right at home when it shows up on TV.