Loser transforms

Rating: 4/10 (11 January 2009)

Hmmmmm.....There are a few laughs here, but loads and loads of clichés. An interesting conglomeration of actors: David Schwimmer directs (who knew?), Thandie Newton, whose most memorable role to date was in "Mission Impossible II", Simon Pegg, who coincidentally also has a "Mission Impossible" (III) on his resume but perhaps is most recognizable from the British comedy of a few years ago "Hot Fuzz," and even Hank Azaria takes part as a smarmy American with suspect intentions.
Simon Pegg is a London Loser by the name of Dennis Doyle. Having left Thandie Newton's character, Libby, at the alter, pregnant no less, his life spirals downward from there. He's now an overweight, cigarette-addicted security guard in a women's lingerie store who perpetually locks himself out of his basement apartment where he is also (surprise!) behind in the rent. One wonders what Libby could have ever seen in him in the first place. Hank Azaria plays Whit, a suave, rich American whose plan is to woo Libby and her now 5-year-old son, with whom Dennis still has a good relationship. The son Jake is played by an almost pathologically cute kid named Matthew Fenton with just the right number of missing teeth. Every movie cliché you can imagine is played out. Dennis tries to redeem himself in Libby's eyes by training for a marathon that Whit will be running in. His Indian landlord and ne'er-do-well best friend become his trainers for reasons of their own. Improbability abounds. Dennis transforms into the lovable, hapless anti-hero, Whit into the heartless villain. Thandie Newton's Libby is a study in stagy, overwrought facial expression. You could make a flip-book of the hundred or so faces she makes......she doesn't so much act the part as grimace it.
Rent only if all the other B movies are checked out, or if you really want to see some great shots of modern-day London.