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65%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #2,071
...out of 20,875 movies
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Dennis is a clueless and slightly overweight guy, who left his pregnant fiancée five years earlier. Every day, Dennis tries to persuade the woman he loves to accept him back into his life, but everyday he fails. When he discovers that Libby has found a partner in the form of American Whit, frustration grows, and Dennis vows, that for once in his life, he will finish something. This something ends up being a Nike River-run in London. With his friends Gordon and Mr. Ghoshdashtidar by his side, Dennis begins training for the marathon he must finish.
--IMDb
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It may be a curse for any type of artist to make their best work early on in their career. Sure, Simon Pegg has been part of many different things, but everyone loves him for Shaun of the Dead, so that is how Nick Frost and Simon are always compared. When I watch a film I watch it for what it is. I don't care about the person's real life or what they've done before because that has nothing to do with the movie in front of me... usually.
Simon Pegg plays Dennis, a dim witted, down on his luck kind of guy. Dennis didn't think he was ready to be married or have a kid, so he did what any man would have done in that situation: he left her at the altar, pregnant. Fast forward five years and Dennis has a loving relationship with his son Jake (Matthew Fenton), but fails to win his ex-girlfriend Libby (Thandie Newton) back. Libby now has a new boyfriend named Whit (Hank Azaria) who seems to be the perfect kind guy and mentions he is going to run a marathon. Dennis decides he is going to get in shape and run that marathon as well, and, in doing so prove to Libby he can change. With the help of his friend Gordon (Dylan Moran), and landlord, Mr. Goshdashtidar (Harish Patel) he might have a chance.
The story was put together by Simon Pegg and Michael Ian Black. It comes off a bit cliché in the beginning, which is disappointing. However, it slowly grew out of that shell and started to head down a path I found to be more realistic. I know that is unwise to say this for a movie, but I really hate that typical formula that follows this type of romantic comedy. There was more comedy than romance, so I have to say that is a plus for me.
Simon Pegg plays the not so perfect guy, well, perfectly. I love how he just draws you into each role and he was funny all the way through. The same can be said with Moran another Shaun of the Dead alumnus. Azaria did a good job at playing the nice guy who slowly turns into huge butt head later. I really liked the cast because they all had a good chemistry with each other. This really helped with the few flaws in writing that negatively affected the beginning.
One thing that caught me off guard was the credits. David Schwimmer was the director. I have to say I was never a fan of his work, but he proved to me in this movie, and another work he did with Simon Pegg, Big Nothing, that he has some talent in there.
Overall: I enjoyed the film, but I think the last 30 minutes saved this from being mediocre. It was heading down a bumpy road, but it picked itself back up. Any fan of Pegg will surely love this. And all you romantic comedy fans out there will get a kick out of this as well. 8/10.
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