Why Netflix original Dumplin' is worth the watch!

So it's a Wednesday night, I have a day off from Uni as I've broken up for Christmas and also work. So, bored and endlessly scrolling through Netflix trying to figure out what to watch. You know how it is when you've had many a lazy day and binge-watched anything and everything good or bad. Even everything in the children's section (I will not be sorry for watching multiple series of Pokemon and also every single Shrek movie on repeat weekly) and so I come across Dumplin'. For those who don't know, Dumplin' is a 2018 Netflix original featuring the goddess that is Jennifer Aniston (Who was also responsible for directing the film) who plays a former beauty pageant winner in 1993 in the film also. Called Rosie and is somewhat a local celebrity in her hometown in Texas and follows the story of her daughter Willowdean, A plus-sized-Dolly obsessed teen and her quest to break the social norms of beauty pageants to prove a point all following the death of her Aunt who essentially brought her up as willow deans mother was preoccupied with pageants. Think Sierra Burgess is a Loser meets Miss Congeniality but with a more country vibe.

Id heard a few people mention it on social media giving positive reviews so I thought why not and I honestly did not regret it one bit! from start to finish I was Hooked. This film was so refreshing to watch after so many beauty pageant chick flick films always being about the cliches of 'pretty girl enters beauty pageant and wins' or 'plus sized girl loses weight and then suddenly is now complies with a more socially accepted view of pretty' but with this film it is totally opposite and I feel that more young women and teens need to watch this movie to understand and aspire to have the same attitudes as Willowdean and her friends as they prove that you don't have to be size 0 to be beautiful and with living in the social media age, young women consuming thousands of images of size 0 women for example in ads, fashion magazines etc. and are being flooded with this idealistic image that 'Skinny is the only beautiful you should aspire to be'. one of many social issues addressed in the film as well as Family bereavement, Single motherhood, Female empowerment/ Strong female friendships, Drag Queens. Oh, and it features many a Dolly Parton hit, even a few new tracks made from the film .. WHATS NOT TO LOVE!

All this aside, I would have loved to see more in-depth character development. For example I we don't see much of Willowdean's love interest Bo, which is rather disappointing as I didn't feel like I could really connect well and have the initial emotional response I feel the directors wanted towards the ending scene in the movie as he just seemed to drop in here and there and didn't really have much of a backstory and was really just the guy that drops in here and there. But yet I still loved this and the fact it wasn’t all about a love interest and more about about Wilowdean and proving that you don’t need to fall in love with someone else to fall in love with yourself and that you must love yourself first before you love someone else.

Overall, the film is a sweet lighthearted and funny coming of age rom-com guaranteed to make you cry, make you laugh, Get you singing along to the queen of country (Dolly). It made me feel proud to be who I am and will definitely make you think less about societies need to conform to social norms to be beautiful!