Predictable underdog story; entertaining British humour

Rating: Null/10 (16 April 2008)

Simon Pegg is probably the main draw for me, after I've seen what he can do in "Hot Fuzz", taking black humour and outlandish farce to the very limit. It's a different role he plays here in Fatboy, a pathetic underdog, but with enough fire in his belly to flare up in the critical moment. Pegg has certainly done it again.
The plot is predictability personified  a lazy loser who abandoned his impregnated girlfriend five years ago comes back to win her back, together with their son, from the present suitor who outclasses him in every department. If you have watched enough movies, you can probably write the script yourself after watching just the first couple of scenes. Some of the humour is really right down low but seem to be more effective in a British context than Hollywood. And despite the absolute predictability, the finale can still get you aroused and have you cheering.
It's been 8 years now since MI-2, but 35-year-old Thandie Newton still has that charm of melancholy, girlish vulnerability that makes a guy throw down his life to her rescue at the drop of a hat. And, as usual in this kind of movie, there is an assortment of oddities of a side cast to have you too busy to worry about weak plots, limp stories and all that - and a good one here.