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BY MAGGIE SCOTT

They say the race is to the swift. But, for someone like Dennis, that means racing as fast as he can from the dreaded moment he can kiss carefree bachelorhood goodbye.

As Run, Fat Boy, Run opens, he’s just left his apoplectic and pregnant girlfriend Libby at the altar.

Five years later, Dennis (Simon Pegg) is a security guard at a woman’s clothing store. He’s got a bit of a belly and a close relationship with his son, with whom Denny can feel free on their regularly scheduled outings to act like a kid.

It’s soon clear that not only does Denny love his boy, he still loves Libby (Thandie Newton). Trouble is she’s moved on to a new relationship: Whit (Hank Azaria), a man who knows something about running. As in, managing hedge funds and competing in charity marathons.

How does Denny compete with “Peter Perfect?” Could the man who’s never finished anything, according to Libby, make and keep a commitment to get himself into shape for, and finish, the 26-mile Nike River Run along London’s Thames River? He’s got three weeks to get ready.

Unfortunately, jealousy isn’t enough of a motivator to sustain the kind of inner fortitude a man like Denny is going to need to push through the “wall” every marathoner hits. Denny has got to have an attitude adjustment to break through his own wall that lack of discipline and perseverance has built.

Helping with the adjustment are his dubious poker buddy, Gordon (Dylan Moran) and Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel), Denny’s long-suffering landlord. A blustering, but kind-hearted man who believes in the power of love, Mr. G. realizes that he just might see the unpaid rent if Denny gets a little moral support.

So, with apologies to Rocky, Denny takes his pasty soft body out for some respiratory distress training, only to have a major relapse of character when he hears Libby say “yes” to Whit’s proposal of marriage.

Dropping out, Denny returns to slacker mode, faces eviction courtesy of Mr. G’s hard-nosed daughter and gets a pummeling from Gordon, who placed a substantial bet on Dennis finishing the race. Is Denny doomed to watch life from the sidelines, or can he get his second wind and make his cold feet, clad in Mr. G’s gift of yellow Nike running shoes, take the first and last steps he needs to win back his self-esteem and the love of his life?

Pegg’s made a name for himself as the impish comedian actor/ satirical screenwriter of such hits as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. Under the relatively staid, first-time feature film direction of Friends almnus, David Schwimmer, Pegg plays it mostly endearingly straight, with mood-breaking moments of naughty or gross-out zaniness. Race right out and see it, starting March 28.

A Picturehouse release, rated PG-13 for rude, sexual humor; partial nudity; language; smoking.

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