By: debbie lynn elias
Many years ago I had the pleasure of first meeting one of our finest and most respected attorneys, Arlene Coleman Schwimmer. Within the legal community I knew her to be dedicated, ethical, honest, hard-working, prepared, meticulously detailed and caring. Often described as a Pit Bull or Tiger Lady, at home, to her son David [who is best known to all of you as dinosaur loving Ross Geller on “Friends”], she was simply “mom.” I had never met David Schwimmer until this week when I sat down with him to talk about RUN, FAT BOY, RUN, his feature film directorial debut. Already an accomplished actor and television director, it is evident that the apple doesn’t fall from the tree because after talking with him and screening RUN, FAT BOY, RUN, David Schwimmer clearly brings the same levels of excellence to his directorial efforts with this feature as his mom brought to the legal profession. The technical polish, cohesiveness, continuity, casting and pure joy and charm of RUN, FAT BOY, RUN belies the often perceived lack of skill of a fledgling feature director.
Dennis is an endearing schlub of a guy. Engaged to his very pregnant girlfriend Libby, he has not been the most eager of grooms in getting to the altar (but then how many of you guys are eager), so it’s a miracle in and of itself, he appears for the wedding. Unfortunately, he doesn’t stick around long and just as the ceremony is about to start, he runs. He runs hard, he runs fast and he runs far. And everyone runs after him; everyone except Libby.
Fast forward five years. Dennis is still an endearing schlub. Living in a basement flat owned by the porky and portly Mr. Goshdashtidar, he works as a security guard in a lingerie store, never has any money and still pines for Libby. Libby, still beautiful and kind to a fault, encourages Dennis to spend time with their son Jake, but refrains from reinvolving herself with him. And why should she? She now has Whit, a very successful American executive who is not only rich, but athletic, emotionally mature, caring, attentive, loving, even nice to Dennis, (did I say rich?) – in short, everything Dennis isn’t.
Still holding his torch for Libby, Dennis gets more than a touch of the green-eyed monster when he realizes the seriousness of Whit and Libby’s relationship. So, in an impressive move of gullible stupidity – and love – and with the hope of winning her back, Dennis tries to impress Libby with the “changes” he has made to himself in the past five years. So much so, that he enters the same 26-mile charity marathon in which Whit is competing. Unfortunately for Dennis, the race is in three weeks and the only time he has ever jiggled his jelly even the slightest was when he bolted from the altar or ran to the corner store for a pint and some snacks. Declaring himself, “not fat…just out of shape”, with the support, creativity and rather unusual coaching from his best friend Gordon and even his beleaguered hysterically funny landlord Mr. Goshdashtidar, Dennis embarks on the run of his life, in fact, the run for his life and all that he holds dear.
Will Dennis run the 26 miles? Oh heck, will he even make it one mile or one block? Will Whit win the race and Libby? And what about Jake? Will Dennis be a father and not a friend to his five year old? And what about all those other unexpected unknowns in life. Will Dennis run towards them and meet them head on or run away and hide in Mr. Goshdashtidar’s basement for another five years? Run see the film to find out!
The casting is beyond exemplary. Simon Pegg IS Dennis. With a script written by Michael Ian Black and originally set in New York, thanks to financing (and some rather questionable decision makers who nixed the idea of Paul Giamatti or Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dennis), Pegg was called in not only to rewrite the script and move it to London, but at the request of Schwimmer, assume the part of Dennis. Now Pegg is by no means fat, so he wore padded prosthestics in appropriate places to give him the right look (although according to Pegg “made it hell when you had to go to the bathroom) and then capitalized on his own patented brand of humor and delivery and his keen knowledge of the London locale and British humor. The result is a multi-dimensional character that touches your heart and tickles your funny bone.
Thandi Newton, well familiar with Schwimmer and a fan of Pegg’s humor, gleefully joined the cast as Libby. Fresh off a very dark performance in “Crash” (but before its Oscar win), she was looking for some lighter fare to tackle. A born comedienne, I don’t think Newton knows just how funny she really is and even playing the “straight man” to Pegg’s Dennis and Hank Azaria’s Whit, she still garners laughs aplenty with just the roll of her eyes. Calling on her own experience as a mother, she brings a warmth to her scenes with newcomer Matthew Festoon who plays her son Jake and an understated tameness to those with Azaria and Pegg.
As for Hank Azaria, he was Schwimmer’s one and only choice for the part of Whit. And I have to say, not a big Azaria fan myself, Schwimmer brought out the absolute best in him, causing Azaria to turn in probably the best performance of his career. Arrogant, conniving, two-faced, but sweetly saccharine where necessary, Azaria runs the gamut of emotions and plays all of them to the hilt with joyous aplomb.
Originally written some six years ago by Michael Ian Black, aswith many scripts, RUN, FAT BOY, RUN sat on a shelf before eventually falling into the lap of David Schwimmer. Immediately drawn to the Black’s comedic flair and the fact that this is “three movies in one”, even when financing by a London company dictated the film be moved to London and Simon Pegg was called upon to rewrite for the new setting, Black’s initial story and a good portion of dialogue remained intact. Notably, the characters are each well defined both through dialogue and the surrounding settings and events, the latter of which goes to Schwimmer’s being a self-described “control freak.” A key to the evenness and pacing not only of the story and of emotion is Pegg’s injection of British humor into the script. Articulated best by Schwimmer, “Anytime there’s a scene that’s getting a little too schmaltzy, a little too touchy-feely, suddenly there’s a joke in there to undercut the moment. The most obvious example is either, the engagement [between Libby and Whit] happens, where we as the audience see Dennis devastated. He leaves this party and -BAM – Gordon [who was a guest at the party] enters with a robe and a towel on his head and the audience puts it together as ohmigod he did take a bath” in Whit’s home during Whit’s party. That humor immediately undercuts that moment.” Priceless.
David Schwimmer more than impresses as a director, much of which has to be attributed to his love of this story. “This is three movies in one. To me it was a great physical comedy. It had real drama…I felt like there was real drama there and then it turns into this great sports movie. As a first time director, I loved the idea that it kinda starts out this small little movie and gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and I thought, well, it’s not too big that I didn’t feel I could handle it as a first time director but it was big enough that I thought I would really grow from this experience from directing this. This was going to be a real challenge. This very real movie suddenly gets kind of surreal and magical and I loved that. And I bought it; the script, I bought it. . .it offered a great opportunity as a director to kind of play.”
Due to his immense and intense preparation, Schwimmer was calm throughout the shoot. “I had prepared so thoroughly that I got sleep. I was like really calm. This is what I should be doing. I’m loving this.” The film has high production values. When I asked Schwimmer how involved was he in the selection of production designers, cinematographer, composer, etc., his response was simple. “Every single aspect.” A superb choice was cinematographer Richard Greatrex who had to battle not only the London elements of weather and light but creation of crowds and lensing of the marathon. Greatrex fulfills Schwimmer’s vision.
Short of John Williams or James Horner it’s rare that composers garner accolades in a review, but in all fairness, here it is the work of composer Alex Wurman that really carries and propels much of the film along with the soundtrack itself. When I noted Wurman’s excellence, Schwimmer was elated. “I’m glad you pointed that out because that was, I think, one of the most difficult parts of this process – the composer’s job. As I said, it’s three movies in one and to create a score that could carry the comedy, move the pace along and have the drama and then have this action of the big sports movie finale, I mean, that takes a helluva talented composer. He did great.”
RUN, FAT, BOY RUN is so much more than a “first feature directorial debut.” Meticulous, detailed, cohesive, comedic, charming, embraceable and entertaining. David Schwimmer has done Mom proud with this one. This is a feature film that cries out for you to run, not walk, to the nearest theatre. And David, run, don’t walk to your next directorial gig because with this film, Ross Geller is in the past along with his beloved dinosaurs.
Dennis – Simon Pegg
Libby – Thandie Newton
Whit – Hank Azaria
Directed by David Schwimmer. Written by Michael Ian Black and Simon Pegg based on a story by Michael Ian Black. PG-13 (100 min)
