Phat Girlz (PG-13, 2006)

In PHAT GIRLZ, Jazmin (Mo'Nique) is brassy, angry, and smarter than everyone else. She works at a department store where she daily sees women she calls "skinny bitches," privileged and arrogant, with rich and/or good-looking male partners who tell them they're "beautiful." Aside from work, where she commiserates with plus-size best friend Stacey (Kendra C. Johnson), Jazmin is also reminded of her lack of options by her roommate/cousin Mia (Joyful Drake), an aerobics instructor. Jazmin gets what pleasure she can by calling her obnoxious boss (Jack Noseworthy) "D--kface," a joke that wears out in one telling, but really, she wants to show her own design sketches to the stores' women's line buyer, Robert (Eric Roberts). Jazmin wins a contest and the girls head to a Palm Springs spa, where they meet doctors from Nigeria who prefer women of Jazmin and Stacey's mode, and disdain the preening Mia, who goes on to endure all manner of insult for the rest of the film.

Mo'Nique stands up for plus-size women's rights to happiness and decent wardrobes. But Nnegest Likké's movie frames her with and as a set of broadly comic stereotypes that are less than empowering. The film's logic -- that inverting the hierarchy of beauty, from thin to large, amounts to retribution and redemption -- is troubling. Though Jazmin eventually makes up with Mia, the film never lets her off the hook, making her incessantly silly and vain. The other part of this logic, that men's desire determines women's worthiness, is certainly not unique to Phat Girlz.

To be fair, the movie does allow Jazmin another measure, when her designs do become successful, but the man-thing remains crucial for her self-worth. The film goes on too long, with too many possible endings (the first would be best). While it does make admirable claims for women resisting the judgments of others, it also makes fun of women. As much as it might have offered alternative imagery, the movie falls back on very familiar imagery. Mo'Nique can be unfamiliar, unsettling, and provocative, but she can also be exactly what you expect. Let's hope she finds a vehicle that allows more surprises.

Studio: Fox Searchlight
Director: Nnegest Likke
Cast: Eric Roberts, Kendra C. Johnson, Mo'Nique
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 99 minutes
Theatrical release: April 7, 2006
DVD release: August 22, 2006
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: sexual content and language, including some crude sexual references.