To Be Fat Like Me is one of those overly dramatic 21st century high school movies. Right into the first ten minutes it already doesn't stand up to its story and the actors chosen make it very hard to take seriously. And as with most of these movies, somehow it manages to fit its forced environmentalism propaganda in, despite it having nothing to do with the plot (these students make an anti-pollution movie that is shown briefly in the beginning). I can tell you right now from very recent experience, high school is nothing like it's shown in this movie.Anyway, the main character is named Alyson; she's a prissy, stuck-up, narcissistic ditz who thinks being pretty and good at sports will get her through life, so she's spending all her time playing softball for a sports scholarship and meanwhile looking down on her "overweight" family in shame and disgust (they're not even that fat!). She never considers that in this world you should expect the worst, not the best, and so she is totally shocked when an accident occurs that makes her unable to play sports (THE HORROR!) and she loses her scholarship. Since her grades are terrible because she never focused on anything but sports and socializing, she has to go to summer school.Alyson decides to enter a documentary contest and teams up with two closet-geek friends to start a project called "Fat Like Me", where Alyson dresses up in a fat suit and goes to school as an overweight girl, using hidden cameras to record her experiences. The problem is, she makes friends with a misfit emo-type boy named George and his best friend Ramona, an overweight girl. They have no idea that in reality Alyson is a snobby popular girl, and Alyson finds herself getting very attached to them without realizing the harm she's causing.Fat Like Me has a serious issue with its cast, mainly Alyson's family. Her mother and brother are supposedly obese but neither of them are, they're a little overweight but not the way the story goes on! The movie ends way too abruptly and never explains whether or not Alyson won the documentary contest, whether or not she fixes her relationship with Ramona and what her family thinks of the documentary once it's finished. I think the film company must have some promotional agreement with an electronics corporation or something; every kid in this movie has a computer! The kids where I'm from are mostly from blue-collar coal mining and woodworking families, they have to go to the local library for computer access. And it's highly unrealistic that the Jamie character just had "rich divorced parents to buy her high-tech spy cameras hidden in glasses and purses". The soundtrack was this trashy, horrible pop music and the lines were so fake! Nobody talks that way unless they're from Silicon Valley or something! This movie still manages to get its point across, but it is obviously written by adults with no input from kids today who are actually living the reality of being overweight in high school. Hopefully a better movie with more depth will come out someday to address the situation.

I read some very adamant and strong reviews for this film that all said the same thing and I completely agree. This was marketed as a film for teen girls to feel good about themselves and not obsess over weight but then you watch the film and it's actually directed at skinny people and how they shouldn't make fun of fat people because they have feelings too. How pathetic. It almost made me sick to watch the movie. The girl in the film who is larger is made to look like a loser with real feelings so she should be treated gently. How about not making her a loser in the first place? The film was decently acted but certainly nothing outstanding and the script is downright depressing and written with the maturity and intelligence of an eight year old. The best I can say is that the prosthetics for the main character were well done, better than she should have been able to pull off. The story is incredibly predictable, depressing, and never really comes full circle to make you feel good about what is supposed to be essentially a feel good film. I don't recommend this to anyone...but especially teenagers or anyone looking for some kind of moral message.Lovely Kaley Cuoco plays lovely Alyson, the picture perfect, pretty athlete who has everything going for and apparently is smart too. I actually find her character boring and vapid and I actually think it's not her fault. I think the character was written poorly and the writing overall gives an actor nothing to work with. Caroline Rhea is almost decent as Cuoco's mother who has had past issues with medical problems based on weight. She's struggling with her relationship with her daughter and it is almost the one redeemable quality about the film and the one almost interesting story. Melissa Halstrom plays the larger girl that Cuoco "befriends." On top of having a weight problem Halstrom is written to look like a loser. She has no friends save for one guy who is clearly written as a nerd, geek whatever you want to call them. Halstrom's character doesn't even try to be a likable character. For her first film I suppose she does an alright job but I don't think it helps her case. Brandon Olds is really the only other redeemable character and performance in the film. His character is far more apathetic and he actually gives a good performance.I think I blame the poor quality of this film on the film makers, in particular the director and writer and there really is no excuse for director Douglas Barr who has been in showbiz for decades and has directed many, many TV Specials and shows although I don't know the quality of any of them. Same really goes for M.A. Lovretta who penned the script. She's been writing Television, although not great Television for the better part of the last ten years and coming from a woman writer I would have expected more respect and emotion to a story like this. It's not the worst film I've seen TV or otherwise but I don't suggest it if you think you're going to get a sweet cute little TV money. It's preachy in all the wrong ways and overall boring. 5/10

I didn't expect to like this movie - it seemed like the topic was too easily made into a simplistic 'hurt-emotion' and 'stand-up for yourself' type movie. After all, it was on the Lifetime channel and that is an often-used theme. However, the movie was much better than that and this surprised me.Basically, the story is about an attractive, popular high-school girl that undertakes a project to document what it's like to be fat. Of course, it's easy to predict the basics of the story, but there's more to the movie than just the basic plot element.The real value of this movie is that it doesn't try to be too preachy and shame everybody about having a reaction to 'fatness'. Instead, it explores many different angles and leaves you thinking about the many complex issues involved.The lead character is intelligent and grounded, so it's easy to become interested in her character and follow her as she is confronted with many different situations involving weight. These situations don't just involve her and various high-school cliques, but also her weight-recovering mother and chubby brother.The movie even acknowledges issues that relate to her judgments being affected by the fact that she can step out of the 'fat-suit' life at the end of the day. Because it's able to visit many such angles, the movie keeps a brisk pace and something is happening all the time.While the movie does have its flaws, it remains interesting. Sometimes there are no easy answers, but there's lots to think about. If you want to watch a movie that will leave you with a few interesting, self-reflecting ideas to ponder, this movie is a good choice.

This movie reminded me quite a lot about a book I own and read occasionally. The book was about a homecoming and pageant queen who was pretty, popular, and seemed to live the perfect life. That is until she got fat. In contrast, Kaley Cuoco portrays a pretty thin girl who documents life as a fat person by altering her appearance by wearing a fat suit, and not changing her true self. Life as an overweight individual opened up the true souls of her so called friends. They shunned her, harassed her, and treated her like low life scum. No one paid any attention to her personality, and the fat people at her school thought she was a walking joke. Yet, I really think that the film really makes us realize that who shouldn't judge one by looks, but the sad fact about that is true. We seem to make rude comments about to those who are physically different just because people have low self esteem and zero confidence that they take it on those who appear weaker then they. I'm more on the slender side with blond hair and bluish green eyes. However, I'm physically different that I will not post, but I had my share of experiences with the cruel comments, jokes, and harassment. However, I paid no attention to that because I lived my own life, and true people accepted for who I was, and not my appearance. We cannot help what we look like, unless you want to live a healthy lifestyle, you can make a few changes with diet and exercise. Physical deformities we can't really change, unless you go under dangerous surgeries. I think that 99% of women have image issues and they're unhappy with themselves because they think they can't do better. They fall into depression which can lead to dangerous eating disorders and cosmetic surgeries simply because of what society portrays. I believe that everyone has a "best" about them, whether it's talent, looks, or personality, and the key is to be yourself, and not what others want you to be. You'll be a total lie to yourself.