Dumplin': chicken soup for the soul
4/8/2019
This feel-good movie, involving a girl on her way to win a beauty pageant, shines a light on body positivity and strong female relationships.
By JULIANNA RAYMOND
SNN Staff Writer
Today, there are standards for what kind of girls can be in pageants. You must look a certain way, act a certain way and think a certain way. But not in this movie.
This star-studded Netflix original movie called Dumplin’, is about a girl named Dumplin’ whose real name is Willowdean Dixon (Danielle Louise MacDonald). She is a plus-size teenager with a mother who is a pageant queen. Dixon spends most of her childhood being raised by her Aunt Lucy. She introduces her to her best friend, Ellen Dryver (Odeya Rush) and instills in her a love of Dolly Parton.
A few months before the girls start their last year of high school, Lucy dies. Willowdean is devastated. Her mother never really spent time with her, due to her different time commitments. Willowdean has never really been into the pageant scene, but once she finds her Aunt Lucy’s application that was never submitted, she enters. She wants to finish what Lucy never got to do.
Along the way, there are some hardships, some arguments between her and her friend, some love interests and some internal conflicts that she must overcome.
I would have to rate this movie a solid 8/10. The plot is cute. I like the idea of a plus-size pageant girl in a southern community. The camera work is good, with a variety of shots and scenes, such as school, work and a drag queen show.
The acting is fair, but they could have chosen more wellknown actors and actresses. The cast seems to work well together. The watchability is where we have some problems. There are some parts where I ask myself “How did we get to this part?” or “Wait, what just happened?”
I do like the message behind this movie - that girls can be anything they want, and they don’t have to mold themselves into what society expects of them.
I would recommend watching it for anyone who wants something funny and also light-hearted.