Run, Fat Boy, Run.

"Run, Fatboy, Run is the type of romantic comedy apt to be described as 'nice' or 'sweet,' both of which are codewords for 'unexceptional' and 'useless,'" writes Nick Schager at Slant.

"In both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright's sly genre deconstructions, [Simon] Pegg mimics the audience's thrill of being adrift in fantastical conflict with wide-eyed incredulousness and a goofy demeanor," writes Eric Kohn in the New York Press. "Akin to the underdog appeal of slapstick artists like Buster Keaton, the pathetic nature of Pegg's characters hardens into a heroic streak. In Fat Boy, playing an out-of-shape security guard who runs a marathon to prove his worthiness to an ex-girlfriend, Pegg just seems pathetic."

Updated through 3/28.

"[D]espite following a stock rom-com blueprint, the film is actually very likable, due in large part to the presence of Pegg, who can make even the most tired gags funny," writes Bryan Whitefield at ScreenGrab. "The supporting cast helps to make the material stronger than you'd expect."

"In a performance that is much softer, sweeter, and sensitive than fans of Hot Fuzz will be expecting, Mr Pegg establishes himself as a most unlikely leading man — a chipper, suave, but woefully flawed charmer," writes S James Snyder in the New York Sun.

Melena Ryzik talks with Pegg for the New York Times; Paul Brownfield profiles Schwimmer for the Los Angeles Times.

Capone talks with Schwimmer for AICN.

Update, 3/25: "Where Run, Fatboy, Run fails most prominently is by creating a strong female central character, and then surrounding her with men who aren't worthy of her," writes Alonso Duralde at MSNBC.

Updates, 3/26: Premiere's Glenn Kenny: "March is proving to be a fairly dicey month for contemporary comedic talent. First producer Judd Apatow and partial writer Seth Rogen laid an egg with Drillbit Taylor (no way do I hold Owen Wilson in any respect responsible for it; such are my biases), and now the heretofore nothing-but-delightful Simon Pegg stumbles in the long-anticipated feature film directorial debut of - ta-da! - David Schwimmer, who takes the sow's ear of a script given him by Pegg and Michael Ian Black and deep-fries it into a burnt pork rind of a movie."

For Jim Ridley, writing in the Voice, Run "confirms that [Pegg's] one of the only comic actors working today who's as adept at banana-peel pratfalls as he is at delivering brainy verbal wit."

"At first, the funny-slacker-grows-up arc seems akin to the recent Judd Apatow pictures, or maybe a Nick Hornby novel," writes Jesse Hassenger in the L Magazine. "But Fat Boy, with its wacky side characters and half-hearted set pieces, more resembles a lazy late-period Adam Sandler comedy."

"[C]learly this is a failed group effort," writes Kristi Mitsuda at indieWIRE.

Update, 3/27: "Akin to the underdog appeal of slapstick artists like Buster Keaton, the pathetic nature of Pegg's characters hardens into a heroic streak," writes Eric Kohn in the New York Press. "In Fat Boy, playing an out-of-shape security guard who runs a marathon to prove his worthiness to an ex-girlfriend, Pegg just seems pathetic."

Updates, 3/28: "If you can get past its toothpick of a premise, Run Fatboy Run is a perfectly enjoyable light comedy," writes Salon's Stephanie Zacharek. "It's also just good enough that I wanted it be better."

"Fat Boy will never be mistaken for art," writes Matt Zoller Seitz in the New York Times. "It's Rocky by way of There's Something About Mary, an inspirational fantasy with guy's-guy banter and gross-out humor (including a blister-popping scene that seems to be this film's answer to the hair gel bit in Mary). Yet it's effective and affecting; much of its impact comes from its images of Dennis running and its conviction that there's a difference between running toward something and running away."

"There's no denying that Run Fat Boy Run turns on a well-worn premise, but is the simplicity in itself a bad thing?" asks S James Snyder in the New York Sun.

"There's bittersweet humor in watching Pegg struggle to become the man he and his family need him to be, but this is still the sort of formulaic, high-concept fare it's easy to imagine Black dryly lampooning in his capacity as VH1's in-house smartass," writes Nathan Rabin at AV Club.

Posted by dwhudson at March 24, 2008 1:00 PM