Dumplin' (2018)

Film: Dumplin' (2018)
Stars: Danielle Macdonald, Jennifer Aniston, Odeya Rush, Maddie Baillio, Luke Benward, Harold Perrineau, Kathy Najimy
Director: Anne Fletcher
Oscar History: Parton got a citation for Best Original Song at the Globes, but couldn't translate to the Oscars.
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

One of the biggest problems I have with Netflix's original films (and there are a lot of problems I have with Netflix in general) is that they feel so damn disposable.  For all of the jokes that came out this past week about Bird Box (and there were a lot of them), I didn't feel the need to see it because if a star like Sandra Bullock had an actual, genuine good movie on her hands...wouldn't it be in theaters where it could make some proper bank?  This is luddite thinking, to say the least (everyone from Alfonso Cuaron to Martin Scorsese is currently partnering with Netflix), but it feels worth acknowledging (particularly since I have absolutely no intention of seeing Bird Box, which looks dreadful) before we get into Dumplin', a movie that probably could have been a midlevel hit if released theatrically (Aniston is a bankable star), but instead will become forgotten in two weeks unless Oscar saves it by getting the film a Best Original Song nomination.  Movies shouldn't need to be rescued in such a way.

(Spoilers Ahead) But let's get to the movie at hand, shall we?  The film focuses on Willowdean (McDonald), a young woman who is overweight (the film makes it central to character, hence me pointing it out), and who has recently lost the person she loves most in the world, her Aunt Lucy.  Her mother is Rosie (Aniston), a former pageant queen who has nicknamed her "Dumplin," a moniker she detests but it does give us the name of the movie.  Willowdean works at a local fast food joint with Bo (Benward), a ridiculously handsome short-order cook who seems to have a crush on her and spends much of her time with her best friend Ellen (Rush).  They decide one day after learning that Aunt Lucy had entered in the same pageant that made Rosie a local celebrity to enter as well, causing a lot of friction between Willowdean and Rosie, as they are forced to encounter their own prejudices (about themselves and each other), and try to find a path in a world without Lucy in their lives.

The movie is better than it should be, thanks in no small part to the two lead actresses.  McDonald can't possibly keep coming to the same well over-and-over again (a poor, overweight girl who finds her own sense of beauty) as there just aren't enough parts with that in the description (just ask Nikki Blonsky), but she's a good actress and I hope she does as she deserves more roles after elevating both Dumplin and Patti Cake$.  Aniston doesn't need a career boost, and I know it's an unpopular opinion to some cinephiles but I think she's a pretty good film actress, always bringing her own sense of charm to movies she does in the post-Friends era (though she's never as good as she was as Rachel Green, the role-of-a-lifetime in retrospect).  These two have some fascinating dynamics as the movie closes, with them finding that they love each other even if they're willing to admit that their relationship isn't perfect, and perhaps never will be.  There's a great scene where Aniston's Rosie must acknowledge she's never loved her daughter or sister the way she should have, but she did the best that she could that felt very true, and fitting with the 2018 "Year of Poverty" that seems to have become a theme at the cinemas.

These two leads make up for a relatively hackneyed supporting cast, almost entirely filled with 2-dimensional portrayals from actors who watched Miss Congeniality over-and-over again.  The film's unexpected sidestep into the world of drag queens feels very "WTF" (was Lucy meant to be gay, and that just got trimmed on the editing room floor?) and I didn't get the relationship between Millie (Baillio) and her mother (Najimy) at all (it felt very fluid for a pair that seemed so strict, a case of pretty lazy writing to advance the plot), and Rush is not a good enough actress to make the nondescript best friend anything more than nondescript.  Benward continues to be the unlikely paramour of 2018, after both this and Life of the Party, and is so cute that I believe I literally shouted "just kiss him!" at one point during the movie to my TV screen (Netflix finally finds an outlet movie theaters can't replicate), but he's not given anything to do other than be really cute, so I don't know if that's so much promise as it is a guy with great dimples.  The movie's best asset other than its two leads is surely its soundtrack, as Willowdean has the good sense to be obsessed with Dolly Parton (how, precisely, was it that Dolly never made a guest appearance even over the end credits of this picture?), and Parton seems to be working hard to get her third Oscar nomination this year for the film.  If enough people see it, it's easy to imagine the Academy giving the popular singer that bone, as "Girl at the Movies" is situated alongside all of her other major hits, giving it an unfair advantage.  But otherwise, this is a film that showcases its two leads well, but feels pretty light-perhaps an appropriate film for the tossaway culture of Netflix, but a sad reminder of where people want their movies to come from in the future.