I take advice from other critics and people about certain movies, and my sister recommended I check out a Netflix comedy called “Dumplin’.” She thought Jennifer Aniston was hilarious, and so, I decided to check it out. It actually has its heart in the right place about overweight people and how they want to prove themselves to be better than they look.
Danielle Macdonald (“Patti Cake$”) stars as Willowdean, a chubby girl, who was given the Dolly Parton ropes about life from her late Aunt Lucy (Hilliary Begley), instead of her former Beauty Queen mother Rosie (Aniston, also a producer). And like almost everyone else, she even calls for own daughter Dumplin’ based on her weight. But you can call her Will.
“Almost everyone,” because the only ones who don’t hurt her are her skinny BFF El (Odeya Rush) and a handsome co-worker of hers (Luke Benward). Rosie is also a judge of the upcoming Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant, so Will decides to enter to show her and everyone else what fat people can do.
Director Anne Fletcher does a nice job giving this adaptation of Julie Murphy’s book a sweet, lovable, and bright look. Even the Dolly Parton music shakes things up “9 to 5.” But really, it’s about the courage of overweight people, and how they refuse to let anyone get in the way of their passion. And it takes its time to show us the relationship between a former beauty queen and her fat daughter. Macdonald and Aniston are both delightful as their characters.
I didn’t laugh that much, because I felt certain things were a bit flimsy, but I still admired its silly tone. The best jokes in the movie is when Aniston has to lie straight in the car to look nice for a show, and a dressing room scene towards the end. I thought they were funny, and cute.
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