Distracting enough, but unlikely to stay in the memory for very long

Rating: 4/10 (21 October 2007)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Dennis (Simon Pegg) suffers nerves on the last minute before his marriage to Libby (Thandie Newton) and does a runner. Years later, he's stuck in an unsatisfying job while she and their son are shacked up with successful business tycoon Whit (Hank Azaria) a charismatic American with lots to offer. But older and wiser, Dennis vows to get his life back on track and win Libby back to him by doing the unthinkable...running the London Marathon!
I had meant to go and see Rendition but I fancied a laugh so I went and gave RFR a go instead. Unfortunately I payed for laughs but got rather little of them, as well as a slow, slumberous story that takes far too long to get going. I was also rather surprised at how liberal our censors appear to have become. The film is rated 12A, meaning moreorless anyone of any age can see it, but the amount of times the F word is used, along with a lot of the sexually explicit jokes, really made me wonder.
Performances wise, Pegg just ain't up to his Hot Fuzz standard, Newton manages to be little more than attractive eye candy and David Walliams makes his standard cameo appearance in a bakers shop.
There's quite a lively soundtrack going on and it's an amiable enough ride to the end. Plus anything I say isn't really going to make much difference because the film's been showing for well over a month now and by the looks of it is still really continuing to rake it in. The British really like to flock out to have a laugh at one of their homegrown comedies, but seem to overlook all the flaws with them. **