Run Fat Boy Run

Run, Fatboy, Run may be the most perfectly satisfying romantic comedy of the year, which is funny, ’cause it’s from last year. Friends alumn David Schwimmer acquits himself admirably in his directorial debut, although it goes without saying that having Shaun of the Dead’s Simon Pegg as his eponymous fatboy sort of stacks the deck in his favor. Actually, Dennis (Pegg) isn’t all that fat. He’s just “unfit.” But he is a cad who left his pregnant fiancée (Thandie Newton) at the altar five years before. But after all those years he still harbors loser’s remorse and finally determines to sweep her from the graces of her current fiancé (Hank Azaria) by going head-to-head with him in a grueling marathon. But he’s a fatboy, so there’s the comedy. But there’s much, much more going on. There’s a refreshing uncertainty about where it’ll all end up, and Pegg is a slice of fried gold. As usual.