Dumplin'

Dir: Anne Fletcher

2018

***

Without wanting to get into my feelings towards ‘young adult’ literature - I don’t consider it a viable genre, it is meaningless, young adults should be reading Animal Farm like I was when I was a young adult – I clearly haven’t read Julie Murphy’s novel and I’m never going to. As far as I can tell, Dumplin’ is heavily influenced by John Waters’ Hair Spray, the only differences being that it features a pageant rather than a dance contest, the music is only Dolly Parton rather than a collection of 1950’s songs and the drag queens are openly drag queens, rather than just being men in drag. Hair Spray – the original at least – is hands down a better film, no question, but I’m far from outraged by this pretender to the throne. It is sweet and pretty hard not to like. The story is about Willowdean Dickson (Danielle Macdonald), nicknamed "Dumplin" by her mother, Rosie (Jennifer Aniston), and "Will" by everybody else.  She spent much of her childhood primarily raised and taught by her Aunt Lucy, who introduces Will to Ellen Dryver (Odeya Rush), who becomes her best friend. Lucy instills a love of Dolly Parton, and self confidence in Will before she passes away, six months before Will and Ellen start their final year of high school. Rosie is a past beauty queen and celebrity in their small, Texan town. Will is often faced with confusion when people find out Rosie is her mother due to Will's more heavyset figure. Due to her mother's various time commitments, Will doesn't spend much time with Rosie who is dependent on Will to accompany her to various events. Will finds pageant season - a big event in their town - a ridiculous hooplah, and finds her mother's profession as pageant judge and the emphasis on beauty as over emphasized and doesn't participate in or encourage either. Rosie remains a judge on the town's annual Miss Teen Bluebonnet Pageant every year, an event girls in town start preparing for months in advance. Following Lucy's death, Rosie finds difficulty connecting with Will who is resentful and embarrassed of her mother's world. On Will and Ellen's first day of school, Will is suspended after defending another overweight girl, Millie Michalchuk (Maddie Baillio), from a bully. Following this, Will accuses Rosie of being resentful of Will for her looks and is upset when Rosie insinuates Lucy would still be alive if she took better care of her health. After finding an application to try out for the Miss Teen Bluebonnet Pageant from Lucy when she was 16, Will decides to try out in an act of a "protest in heels". After Will signs up, Millie - who is enthusiastic and pitied by Will - decides to sign up as well, as well as Hannah Perez, who is an edgy teenager. Rosie interprets Will's application as a mockery of the pageant industry, and warns Will that pageants are harder than she thinks. In preparation for the pageant, Will stubbornly refuses to participate and is angry and jealous of Millie and Ellen's willingness to do so. After telling Ellen to quit, the pair fight, with Ellen upset that Will is so untrusting of her. Bo, who works with Will at their local diner, asks Will out to watch a meteor shower. The pair connect, and they kiss. When he harmlessly touches her back, she panics, and leaves abruptly. Rosie begins to mentor Bekah, whose mother is less supportive of her and reveals she's going to ask Bo to Sadie Hawkins. After finding a flyer in Lucy's belongings, Will, Millie, and Hannah visit a Dolly Parton themed drag biker bar that Lucy frequented. She meets a performer named Lee Wayne who was a close friend of Lucy, and feels fulfilled by the experience. Bo confesses his feelings to Will, but she is quick to question the legitimacy of them, wondering why a good looking guy like him likes her, and that they don't work together in the real world. He's confused as to why she doesn't take his feelings seriously, and reveals he declined Bekah's offer to go to the dance. He accuses of her of being a coward and too focused on what others think. Will starts purposely missing pageant meetings with Millie and Hannah in which Lee is coaching them. After discovering a brooch of Lucy's she'd been looking for, she is inspired and decides to take the pageant seriously. At the preliminary event, Rosie is touched and impressed by Will's presentation, and it results in Ellen and her making up. At home, Rosie and Will reconcile over memories of Lucy. At the pageant, Will performs a Dolly Parton tribute, and is a success with the crowds. Millie performs a Christian song, which is also a success. While Rosie is overwhelmed with pride, she is forced to disqualify Will due to modifications made without her approval, and in order not to be seen as making an exception for her daughter. After Ellen's boyfriend is unable to escort her for the formal wear presentation, Will does so, as no rule prohibits a disqualified contestant from escorting a participating one. Millie is awarded first runner up, and Bekah wins the pageant queen title. Will leaves and reconciles with Bo, and the two share a kiss. Everything that the film tries to achieve becomes futile and the truth is that the film is in fact a complete failure. Hear me out. The girls see the pageant as an outdated look at what is expected from a young lady. They enter out of protest, to show the pageant up for what it is. However, by the end they become engrossed with it and even go along with the swimwear section of the show – something I thought wasn’t done anymore? Will is never victimised over her weight, no one is repressed and there really isn’t anything to protest. Indeed, nothing is actually achieved that couldn’t have been obtained at the start of the film. Will doesn’t even become the film’s hero - Millie Michalchuk (Maddie Baillio) does – which is all the more alarming as Baillio clearly bases her performance on Kathy Najimy’s roles in Sister Act and Hocus Pocus - and then Najimy pops up as her mother at the end of the film. The film wears its plagiarism on it’s sleeve and maybe for the first time ever I don’t care. It’s simple and flawed but I found it to be quite tender and heartfelt. Like I said, it’s a complete rip off but impossible not to like.