David Schwimmer enters the long line of actors who have attempted directing with the new comedy Run Fatboy Run. However, this is not Mr. Schwimmers movie. The movie belongs to the synthetic pot-belly wearing lead Simon Pegg, whose comedic gifts manage to keep the movie working despites the film’s plot, which manages to be both blatantly obvious and paper thin at the same time.

As the gelatinous protagonist Dennis, Pegg is able to create a character so clueless and helpless that you can’t help but find him endearing, in a pathetic sort of way. Which is especially impressive when you consider that the film opens with Dennis running away from his wedding, leaving his beautiful, sweet, and pregnant fiancée crying behind him. The fact that the amusing, but goofy, and average at best looking Dennis could ever get and convince a woman as perfect as Libby (Thandie Newton) to stay with him just reaffirms one of the greatest thing about movies, anything can happen. The geek can get the girl. You can just imagine the courting of Libby by Dennis could be a solid romantic comedy. However, we do not get to see the sweet and likely surprising beginning of Libby and Dennis’ relationship. Instead, we get the sad ending, in which Dennis’ insecurities get the best of him, causing him to do one of the stupidest things anyone could ever do.

Five years later Dennis is still just as foolish as ever. Dennis’ gut has grown over the years but his maturity has not. Dennis is a security officer at a women’s clothing store, and is constantly getting locked out of his apartment, as he cannot afford to pay his rent. Also, despite his good intentions he is failing as a father. However, Dennis finally gets the proper motivation to change his life when he meets Libby’s new boyfriend, the ripped and seemingly flawless Whit (Hank Azaria). With the introduction of Whit, Dennis realizes that his time to possibly win back Libby could run out forever. Dennis decides to make a final attempt to convince Libby that he can see something through to the end, and decides to run in the same marathon as the fit Whit.

There are many laughs to be had on the film’s predictable journey, mostly courtesy of Dennis and his gambling addicted best friend Gordon (Dylan Moran), whose just as much a likeable loser as Dennis. There are a surprising amount of decently funny scenes, with the fistfight between Dennis and Gordon being the stand out. There also a fair amount of quotable lines, including my personal favorite, “that is the second most disgusting liquid I have ever had in my mouth.”

Run Fatboy Run is co-written by Michael Ian Black, and Gordon is exactly the type of character Black loves to play, slimy but not entirely nauseating. Which makes me wonder why Black didn’t play Gordon himself? However, Moran proves to be more than capable in keeping up with Pegg, successfully generating many of his own laughs.

While Moran is able to keep up with Pegg, he is not in enough of the film’s running time to serve as a reliable comedic partner for Pegg, which he had in the form of Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Pegg often has to go at it alone, showcasing both great physical comedy and superior whit, spewing out sly one-liners with ease. Pegg is even able to carry the film through its slower and more emotional scenes. If Run Fatboy Run ever begins to drag, Pegg is always there to pick it back up and put it on his shoulders, turning in a fantastic performance that will probably go unnoticed because of the film’s genre and plot.

Yeah, David Schwimmer directed Run Fatboy Run, and yeah, he actually does a fine job. However, while David Schwimmer’s directorial debut maybe what most people are thinking about going into the theater, it is Simon Pegg’s great comedic performance as the “fatboy” that will have audience members smiling as they exit the theater?