Not so fast

Rating: 5/10 (21 December 2007)

Fair to middling Brit-com, centring on amusing ordinary, average guy Simon Pegg's attempts to win back his improbably beautiful girlfriend, Thandie Newton, from a slick yuppie American. Of course it's "The Full Monty" (maybe this subliminally excuses two shots of Dylan Moran's bare behind!) in running gear but the movie never quite gets out of the starting blocks. As indicated earlier, it's hard to accept Pegg & Newton as a natural couple and the rest of the cast are a bit too eccentric and haphazard too, taking in prominently the afore-mentioned Moran as Pegg's best pal who in between dropping his trousers, flits in and out of a minor league gambling den and also Pegg's long-suffering Asian landlord who again somewhat improbably becomes his assistant coach. My problem is that the characters don't mesh together and the narrative is painted in too-broad strokes. "The Full Monty" worked because the characters were believable and the ensemble acting so good, even if the basic premise, like here, seems unlikely. Pegg does garner some sympathy and amusement by turns as he takes to the streets (he is a sight in his tight running shorts!) but by the time his "Tough of the Track" performance has won the hearts of the nation as well, of course as Newton's, you're left not quite caring enough nor do you feel you've laughed enough on the journey. But a fairly pleasant undemanding watch all the same.