News: Simon Pegg

Former Shaun of the Dead and Spaced star Pegg is, with this week’s Hot Fuzz, making yet another strong case that he’s the first British comic with a real chance to make it big in America since Peter Sellers – but will he be able to maintain the momentum?

He’s certainly got a fair few more in the works – from a planned new sitcom about a pub quiz team (with his Spaced, Shaun and Hot Fuzz co-star and real-world best buddy Nick Frost), La Triviata, due some time this year through to the animated stoner comedy Free Jimmy, for which Pegg wrote the English screenplay (it was originally Norwegian) about a junkie elephant on the run and provides voice duties alongside the likes of Woody Harrelson, Kyle MacLachlan, Samantha Morton, David Tennant, Emilia Fox and Phil Daniels.

But there are also some bigger projects on the way, like the romantic comedy The Good Night, with Martin Freeman, Penelope Cruz, Danny DeVito, Gwyneth Paltrow and Michael Gambon, or former Friends star David Schwimmer’s directorial debut Run, Frat Boy, Run, with Pegg starring alongside Thandie Newton and The Simpsons‘ Hank Azaria.

By far the most promising, however, is Pegg’s starring role in a big screen adaptation of Toby Young’s bestselling memoir of life at a high-end New York magazine, How to Lose Freinds and Alienate People – to be directed by Robert B Weide, best known for his work on the cult comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm. That could well be enough to get Pegg into the Hollywood comedy A-list…

Review: The Pursuit of Happyness

UK release date: 12th January

Will Smith reins in his customary exuberance to deliver a beautifully understated performance as real-life San Francisco father Chris Gardner, who, in the 1980s, battled against astonishing adversity to achieve his American dream. When his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) leaves him, Gardner takes custody of their five-year-old child (played by Smith’s delightful real-life son, Jaden) and then faces a catalogue of disasters as they become homeless and he tries to pursue a new career.

Smith’s restraint works wonderfully here and he makes every facial flicker count. Yet while Gardner’s spirits surprisingly never droop despite his tribulations, the same cannot be said for those watching this noble rags-to-riches drama. The overall message may be a positive one, but it’s agonising to watch such a decent man suffer, with Italian director Gabriele Muccino (The Last Kiss) seemingly determined to keep his English language debut as unsentimental as possible. Ultimately the film is expertly constructed with faultless central turns, but it would have benefited from being more uplifting.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 12A
Running time 117mins

Review by Sloan Freer

News: Thandie Newton

British fave Thandie keeps hovering on the brink of major success, but never quite getting all the way to the A-list, and her brief turn as Will Smith’s somewhat unpleasant wife in this week’s The Pursuit of Happyness is unlikely to help much. Will her turn as the love interest in the Eddie Murphy comedy Norbit (due out on 23rd February in the UK)? It’s too early to say for certain, but female leads in Murphy films rarely seem to go on much success – almost as if there’s a curse… Fingers crossed for her, eh?

What could prove a bit more fun is another comedy, the feature directorial debut of ex-Friends star David Schwimmer, Run, Frat Boy, Run. OK, so the title doesn’t promise much, but it does star the likes of Shaun of the Dead‘s Simon Pegg and The Simpsons‘ Hank Azaria – always amusing in pretty much whatever they appear in – and the plot of an unfit guy trying to run a marathon to win back the love of his life could just be silly enough to work. You never know..

Still, you have to wonder – why is an actress of Newton’s looks and abilities only appearing in supporting roles? What are Hollywood’s casting directors thinking of?