Review: Run Fatboy Run

Okay, when the Jester saw this film he thought, "Hmmmm, do I want to go there?".  I finally broke down and rented it, since it had Simon Pegg as the main star and second, well it had Simon Pegg as the star.  I figured it was only 99cents, so I'd just have to give up an item off the dollar menu the next visit to Wendys or wherever.

Okay, so on with the review.

Simon Pegg plays Dennis Doyles, who it seems was going to marry his pregnant girlfriend Libby, played by Thandie Newton, before getting cold feet and running away during the preparation for the wedding. We see Dennis running furiously while watching Libby yelling for him to return, while being surrounded by attendants and such.  We fast forward to five years later where Dennis discovers that Libby has started seeing high-flying highly successful Whit.  Dennis' son, Jake has grown attached to Whit and Dennis knows he has little time to win back Libby, if he can at all.

Dennis attends a party where he runs into Whit and in a moment after finding out Whit is running in a marathon soon in London, states he will too. Libby is a doubter especially after her experiences of seeing Dennis run away from a lot of things, including her.  As Dennis trains, despite wanting to run away from this challenge too, he finds that he could help his son along the way.  It seems that Jake, has formed a crush on a girl in his class, but runs away angry when he finds out she prefers another boy. Dennis, who is frantically called by Libby, tracks Jake down and explains to him that he will find many things he does not like in his life and he should just stand up to them and face them, rather than running away, having made that mistake himself.

The movie follows Dennis through the journey of "following through" on the race as a metaphor of the past he's trying to change.  What we find is that much like own lives, Dennis needs help, which he receives from his best friend Gordon and his landlord.  Of course, most of us, unlike Dennis, don't have coaches hitting us with spatula's as motivation.


On the day of the race we, along with Libby, find that things aren't necessarily what they seem, the unforgivable can be forgiven and mistakes of the past can be healed.

I really enjoyed this movie all the way through.  It's especially pertinent as we think of our own "walls".  Simon Pegg again does a great job with his role and the supporting job of his "coaches" along the way is spot-on.  I think most people will really enjoy this movie and the lessons one learns about life.

Jester gives this

out of