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While working at Bloomfeld’s, Jazmin (Mo’Nique) dreams of being a full-figured fashion designer, but whenever she attempts to approach the store’s owner (Eric Roberts) in an effort to improve their plus-size selection, she is shot down by his snobbish assistant (Jack Noseworthy), just one of several evil white men out to crush her aspirations a la Last Holiday (my personal favorite: the unfortunately-named Mr. Lynch, who denies her a loan at – er – First Plantation Bank). Thanks to a diet sweepstakes, our lead wins a luxurious spa vacation, and she heads down to Palm Springs with her similarly sized colleague (Kendra Johnson) and shallow cousin (Joyful Drake). There, she happens to fall for a hunky Nigerian doctor (Jimmy Jean-Louis), who happens to value her plump physique and sassy attitude. Cue saccharine.

Even though Girlz relies on very broad humor and a simple story, there is a genuine geniality that keeps it afloat longer than it has any right to. Mo’Nique does a fine job carrying her film, which is inevitably a step up from her work in Soul Plane and Domino. For the better part of the movie (i.e. the first hour), the laughs are more akin to those from her stand-up work than an actual movie. There’s the repeated mantra of “I hate skinny bitches,” an entire sequence devoted to her trying on clothes she wouldn’t knowingly own, and an amusing detour to Fatassburger, where Jazmin and her gal pals order from the jumbo-sized menu and then deliver a epic verbal smackdown to a mouthy employee: “Yo momma so fat…” versus “You so ugly…” Even as the token romance kicks in, there is still mild amusement to be had.

Then, the film drops the entire doctor plot for a while, focuses solely on the self-esteem/fashion design part, and then comes back with a series (!) of happy endings to ensure that all bases are covered. (You will literally laugh 'til she cries.) By the point where she looks in the mirror and assures herself that she is ‘phatabulous,’ the film begins to stretch itself thin, because there is no doubt that everything will work out in the end. To make matters all the more taxing, the humor in the last act is sparse, and more sweet than sassy when it does appear.

Although Mo’Nique certainly has her charm, first-time writer/director Nnegest Likké never takes her off her pedestal, even frequently repeating an anthem entitled “African Queen” just in case you forgot that Jazmin is a big, beautiful woman deserving of as much attention as any of those skinny bitches. Besides being predictable, the ultimate dilemma of Phat Girlz is that it wants to laugh with full-figured females, but don’t you dare laugh at them. It preaches that people shouldn’t have shallow standards, yet her dream dude can easily be a muscle-laden stud, no problems whatsoever.

Despite its detour into typical territory, Mo’Nique and the supporting cast do manage to squeeze enough laughs in to make 'Phat Girlz' a marginally enjoyable comedy. Cutting back on your portions, however, might not be such a bad idea.

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=14297&reviewer=409
originally posted: 04/10/06 06:44:22
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