Stars:
** 1/2
Rating: PG-13 for language and mature themes
Run
Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
David
Schwimmer of “Friends” fame helms this hit-and-miss affair that trots out comic
chestnuts with good-humored glee.
Simon Pegg
is lovable loser Dennis, a classic commitment-phobe who walks out on heavily
pregnant fiancé Libby (Thandie Newton) on their wedding day.
Five years
later Dennis is pulling dead-end hours as a security guard and sleeping in a
seedy North London basement apartment. Libby has moved on to bigger and better
things, most notably rich and handsome financier Whit (Hank Azaria).
Tired of
being a nearly-man and determined to impress Libby and their son Jake, Dennis
vows to run in the same 26-mile charity marathon for which Whit is training
obsessively. Feel the burn!
Naturally
Dennis is hopelessly unfit (though not exactly the fatboy the title suggests)
and seemingly incapable of completing even the simplest of menial tasks. Altogether
trite but true to the kind of comic roots that include the timeless workout
montage, clash of the male egos and heartstring-tugging finish line drama.
Not a
surprise in sight, just predictable losers-are-people-too jesting raised a
notch by the quality work of consummate professionals who are better than their
mediocre material.
Pegg and
Azaria come closest to generating real laughs, their macho posturing the source
of some genuine wit. Newton lends class where it’s desperately needed; beauty
and the beast et al. Pop tune soundtrack is effervescent and feel-good finale
ends on a rose-colored note.