The Fat Boy Chronicles (2010)

Directed by: Jason Winn

Written by: Michael Buchanan, Diane Lang

Players: Christopher Rivera, Kelly Washington, and Chris Bert

Once I was kind of/sort of chubby. It was freshman year and I was eating all the dining center food that I could, was hardly being physical, and to top it off, the holiday season of nutritional giving was just behind me. I remember being drunk (I was a ...um… 21-year-old freshman?) and entering my dorm room with a huge bag of Jack in the Box-- I’m talking a minimum of 10 tacos and 2-3 burgers… who am I kidding? The bag contained at least 4 burgers. I remember looking at myself in the mirror after eating this gargantuan meal and not being able to see anything remotely mainstream sexy. There is no real point to this story other than to try and relate to Jimmy, who is the fat boy in the eponymously titled movie.

Jimmy is fourteen, standing only 5 feet and 5 inches off the ground, but weighs in at a crippling, literally toddler-smothering 187 lbs. The worst part is that he is a pretty nice guy, but no one can see that because he is so fat. Fatness must be some sort of intimidating thing, because all the cool kids seem threatened by him and always make fun of him, like his fat cells will eventually rise up and become more popular than them. I think that’s why they bully him. Since Jimmy does not like bullying, he goes with the old motto of, “If you can’t beat them, join them,” and starts working out and eating right. This movie makes me feel all sorts of weird. I mean, fat people are still people, but being fat isn’t necessarily great for your health, but nobody should feel pressured to conform, although, losing the weight is healthy and people will generally like you more, but they should like you for who you are, not what you look like, except that excess weight can lead to health problems... Oh god! I don’t know what to think about anything!

That's it, he loses weight, makes some friends, chases a girl, and there's lots of morally-type philosophy. But the main point is that this movie is well acted. Which is saying A LOT. My god, Netflix has some absolutely terrible movies. I had to go through 3 before I found this credible flick. Seriously, just finding a movie where the characters don’t make you want to break your TV in an attempt to punch them in the face is hard once you veer from Hollywood and start seeing “independent” in the listing.

If you have ever felt pressured to conform and then set out on a journey to conform on your own terms, then I think you’ll really feel connected to this movie. I think you’ll feel even more connected if you’re a fat Latin teen who is currently on a weight-loss program. Either way, you don’t have much to lose spending your down time watching this random Netflix movie! 

Tidbit: IRL (in real life), Christopher Rivera (Jimmy) has lost his weight and is looking like a hot biscuit! 

Drink of Choice: Whipped-cream Vodka and Diet Vanilla Coke. Vodka is low on carbs and the diet vanilla-flavoured coke won't make you feel guilty. But it will taste like you're on your way to fat camp!