report rendering very slow on varchar(max) column

Hi, I have a very simple report which displays just a single row each time of a varchar(max) data in a table(tablix).  The varchar(max) data can be as long as 280KB.  The report is so slow, and it may take 20 minutes or more to come up. What's the solution to speed up the report?  I'm using SQL2008R2 SP2 SSRS.   Please help ASAP.

Thanks. Ed