Review of A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012) by Mason B — 09 Sep 2014

I really like Simon Pegg. Not only do I think he's funny, but he's one of the few comedic performers who can properly act. So I'm always excited to see him on screen, but in this case I found myself wishing he was starring in something far less flimsy.

In A Fantastic Fear of Everything Pegg stars as a writer who's terrified of the outside world, but must venture out in order to meet with a new publisher. Pegg does his best in this film, but the film is far too thinly written to give him a fully developed character.

The plot and narrative are actually worse. The entire film is simply a collection of scenes and plots that Pegg's character spends time in before moving on to the other. Many of the scenes work well enough on their own, but as together they don't work as a cohesive whole.

While I was watching the film I was mildly amused and seemed to be enjoying myself, but after I turned it off I realized how little it left me with. A Fantastic Fear of Everything fails to tell a story because it has no clear narrative.

It's far from unwatchable but the hugely underrated Simon Pegg deserves better material than this.