Cute movie elevated above the mediocre by Pegg and Moran

Rating: 6/10 (13 November 2008)

Run Fatboy Run - Dennis Doyle (the wonderful Simon Pegg) with commitment issues runs away from his pregnant fiancé (Thandie Newton) on their wedding day and, 5 years later, tries to win her and his son back by running a marathon.
Anyone hoping for a Edgar Wright style riff (not an unfair expectation, as this has two cast members from Shaun of the Dead) on the sports genre will be disappointed. This is directed by David Schwimmer, and scripted by Michael Ian Black and Simon Pegg himself. Schwimmer's direction is adequate, and the story is pretty cute, though really by the numbers. Could we just freeze the use of the sports montage for, like, two decades? Pegg is very watchable and his presence is more or less what breathes life into the film. Thankfully he also has Dylan Moran (change of pace from Nick Frost), who lights up any dull moment and steals many scenes from under Simon Pegg's feet. Moran plays a near-do-well friend with a gambling addiction and a strange (but funny) lack of pants.
On the other hand, Thandie Newton has pretty much nothing to work with in the material. And Hank Azaria has the virtually thankless task of being the uptight nemesis of Pegg's character (trying to steal the woman Dennis ditched on their wedding day. *What* an ass). God, why do we always have to have a reason to hate the other man (or woman, depending on the film)? Is the theory that any man who is nice and decent on the outside has to be a monster on the inside? God it's such a cliché.
In conclusion, see it for Pegg and Moran. B-