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Fat Girls (2006)

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Ranked #9,814
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Fat Girls is an original off-beat comedy feature. It focuses on Rodney Miller, not your typical Texas high school student...he is a theater lover and his ultimate dream is to be on Broadway. Awkward and shy, he doesn't have many people to talk to in his small Texas town that understand him. He ends up finding what he was looking for in his theater teacher, Mr. Cox. --IMDb
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Review by bluemeanie
Added: May 1, 2007
You might be hearing about a film called "Fat Girls" very soon. Why? Well, there are a few reasons for this. First off, it is written and directed by Ash Christian, a young man who might be around twenty-two years old - now, that's an accomplishment. Second, it is receiving a lot of buzz on the festival circuit and is already in negotiations for distribution. And, third, it relies on that newer kind of "Napoleon Dynamite"-esque humor that audiences seem to love these days. At the end of the day, it's a good little film. It doesn't do anything amazing - it certainly doesn't do anything that countless other films haven't done already, but it's short and sweet and it really does its best to make you identify with its hero, an overweight musical theatre geek. "Fat Girls" is one of those films you watch for pure entertainment value, and will more than likely enjoy.

The protagonist of the film is Rodney Miller (Ash Christian), an overweight musical theatre geek who lives in rural Texas and just wants to move to New York and be a Broadway star. His best friend is Sabrina (Ashley Fink), a grossly overweight goth chick who enjoys being a bitch and has even more fun being as anti-establishment as possible. The film is really about them. We're introduced to a variety of supporting characters, like Mr. Cox, Rodney's drama teacher (Jonathan Caouette from the documentary "Tarnation") who moonlights as a drag queen at the local gay bar, Rodney's mom (Deborah Theaker), who names all of her food after religious subject matter, and Joey (Joe Flaten), the hot new British guy who moves to town, and whom Rodney convinces to go with him to the senior dance. These are the kinds of characters we get in "Fat Girls".

From the opening frame, it's obvious how low budget this film was, but it makes the most out of it. The performances are usually pretty solid, with Ash Christian overplaying it at times, and Jonathan Caouette seeming a little out of place - but Ashley Fink steals the show as Rodney's best friend in the whole world. And Robin De Jesus is funny also as Rudy, the Cuban refugee adopted by the African-American family. When the laughs work, they really deliver and the audience was rolling in the aisles. When the laughs fail, you feel bad for everyone because you can tell they were just trying for something that didn't quite pay off. I also, however, had a problem with the very negative tone of the film. It's one thing to be dark, but it was very negative and pessimistic on just about everything. I didn't enjoy the way they handled the death of Rodney's dad, especially the way Rodney handled it. It made me dislike his character somewhat, instead of endear to him.

There was also a huge problem with the ending of the film. First off, we have Rodney's cousin Bobby (Justin Bruening) doing something we are told he would never do and that's mess with a member of his own family. Second, we have Rodney ending up with someone whom we would never see him ending up with because of their relationship before that. Third, the film seems like it just ran out of footage or something and they had to end it as awkwardly as possible. If the ending had been an extra five minutes longer, it would have left a more lasting impression. But, despite those problems - and some were huge - the film is charming and funny enough to work on most people. You're either going to love or hate this film, and there won't be much middle ground. Most of the people who enjoyed "Napoleon Dynamite" will probably get a huge kick out of it. If you didn't like that particular film, the odds are pretty good you won't care much for "Fat Girls".

7/10.
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