Fat Girls (2006)

Fat Girls is an original off-beat comedy feature. It focuses on Rodney Miller, not your typical Texas high school student...he is a theater lover and his ultimate dream is to be on Broadway... See full summary »

Director:

Ash Christian

Writer:

Ash Christian

Stars:

Ash Christian, Jonathan Caouette, Evan Miller

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ash Christian	...	Rodney Miller
Jonathan Caouette	...	Seymour Cox
Evan Miller	...	Ted
Ashley Fink	...	Sabrina Thomas
Andres Alfonso Ruzo	...	Hick #1
Tom Zembrod	...	Hick #2
Richard Porter	...	Stoner
Justin Bruening	...	Bobby
Deborah Theaker	...	Judy
Mitchell Self	...	Dad
Richard D. Curtin	...	Christian Programming Woman / Preacher / BJs Drag Queen MC
Ryan Sumner	...	Christian Programming Pastor (as Ryan L. Sumner)
Jesse Romero	...	Young Rodney
Robin de Jesus	...	Rudy
Linda J. Park	...	Katie Chin (as Linda Park)

Storyline

Fat Girls is an original off-beat comedy feature. It focuses on Rodney Miller, not your typical Texas high school student...he is a theater lover and his ultimate dream is to be on Broadway. Awkward and shy, he doesn't have many people to talk to in his small Texas town that understand him. He ends up finding what he was looking for in his theater teacher, Mr. Cox.

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Plot Keywords:

texas | teacher | fat girl | high school | watching a video on tv | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue, language and some drug/alcohol use - all involving teens

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 April 2006 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Hawthorne, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$2,160 (USA) (2 November 2007)

Gross:

$10,798 (USA) (25 January 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cranium Entertainment, Hear No Evil Films, Kelli Lerner Casting

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Thora Birch was originally supposed to be in the film but dropped out at the last minute.

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Goofs

At the graduation dance Rodney leaves the punch bowl carrying one cup but arrives at his table carrying two.

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Quotes

Judy: I found your tape.
Rodney Miller: What tape?
Judy: The one with the two queers uh sodomizing and felating each other's assholes 10 ways 'til Tuesday.
Rodney Miller: Not my tape.
Judy: I think it is.
Rodney Miller: No, ma'am, it's not.
Judy: Oh, it is, too.
Rodney Miller: Never seen sodomizing to me my eyes no way.
Judy: I had all the girls over from Buddies and Bereavement and we were going to watch the Kirk Cameron film and that's what played instead.
Rodney Miller: Maybe it was Kirk Cameron.

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Connections

Spoofs The P.T.L. Club (1976)

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Soundtracks

"Savage Youth"
Written by Drew Bayers, Ryan George, Max Humphrey and Nathanael Keefer
Performed by The Adored
Courtesy of Sheridan Square Entertainment

User Reviews

Beyond Bad

"Fat Girls" is among the worst films within the indie gay genre.

The premise is promising: an average-looking gay teen is trapped in a repressive small TX town. His only kindred spirits are the other village HS misfits: the class 'fat girl', a naïve immigrant from Cuba, and the sensitive drama teacher. So far, interesting. In theory, this plot line creates a decent setup for an appealing coming of age story with a built-in audience---the thousands of gay men who grew up in small towns across America and experienced this adolescent anxiety first hand, peppered with a dose of self-deprecating humor.

Unfortunately, rather than a nuanced dramedy, Ash Christian approaches his autobiographical subject matter with a poorly executed attempt at irony and dark humor. The result is a cast of unlikeable, derivative, two-dimensional characters which the viewer cannot but help feel indifferent toward. Sabrina (Fink) is a quasi-Goth bitter navel-gazer. She is such a prickly, unsympathetic person; there is little doubt as to the reason for her friendless condition. The chemistry between her and Rodney (Christian) registers zero. This may have been bad casting, but is more likely due to a screenplay which is simply unsalvageable. Consequently, one is left wondering when there is such a non-existent bond, what could possibly warrant their near-constant companionship throughout the story.

Sabrina's newfound boyfriend, Rudy (de Jesus), and Rodney's mother Judy (Theaker) are among the most exaggerated of the clichéd stock characters ripped off from dozens of other films. Rudy is the horny undersexed immigrant/nerd lifted directly from every raunchy adolescent "comedy" ever made within the realm of TV or film. Judy is the born-again obsessed with Jesus- talk and big hair. Just when you thought the Tammy Faye thing had been done to death, Christian inserts a scene where Judy's mascara is running with her tears! Is there anyone in the civilized world that can possibly think this tired old stereotype gag is still funny after seeing it ad nauseum for 20 years?

In addition to the failed attempts at sardonic humor, there are many puzzling story inconsistencies. Rodney considers himself a "fat ugly" loser. However, he simultaneously manages to participate in casual and regular impromptu trysts with the ubiquitous school jock/hunk, Ted (Miller). Although these liaisons are devoid of emotional fulfillment, most gay teens (filled with raging testosterone, just like their hetero brethren) would find this to be a rather enviable arrangement given the more common alternative of involuntary celibacy.

Rodney finds an object for his affection in Bobby (Bruening), an exotic transplant from England. Against all believable odds, the lad not only happens to land in this tiny TX hamlet, but is conveniently openly gay to boot. Like Sabrina, Bobby is an icy, angry smart aleck and the viewer is left head-scratching as to his magnetic appeal.

Much to his delight, Rodney is invited by his new crush to the town gay bar, where Bobby claims to be the DJ. Upon arrival, the boyfriend-to-be promptly leaves Rodney solo and heads off to another area of the bar for a quick encounter with a rather handsome young man. This is yet one more of the ridiculously inexplicable plot elements since Rodney's feeling as an outcast are supposedly derived largely from his lonely existence in a parochial town. As tiny as the town is, they have openly gay students at the high school? A secretly bisexual football captain? Lesbian moms? A Gay teacher? and it has a gay bar downtown (patronized by attractive men, no less)? Apparently, the place is not so backwater after all.

Ten years earlier, Todd Stephens' "Edge of Seventeen" covered nearly the same material with a much more creative, honest, touching, and humorous film.