Troy is an obese lonely video-gamer loser in school. He lives with his father (Billy Campbell) and brother. He tries to kill himself by stepping in front of a bus and he's saved by Marcus. Marcus is an unreliable homeless school drop-out guitarist. Even his bandmates have kicked him out. Marcus starts using Troy for a place to stay and food to eat while claiming to start a band with him. Troy maintains his friendship with Marcus despite his father's reservations. Troy is a hormonal teen in love with Marcus' friend Isabelle (Lili Simmons).Marcus is really annoying at the beginning. It takes a long time before he shows any signs of passing friendship with Troy. He does grow as a character and the friendship becomes more. Troy is a really passive person but he also grows too. The father is interesting because he's not yet another clueless adult in a teen movie. It's a slow start but it gets better. It's pretty good work for Matthew Lillard's directorial debut.

I'll always think of Matthew Lillard as Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo movies of my childhood and that laid back personality seems to be fed into his hard work too. Fat Kid Rules The World is a real indie treat. Although it takes on the tired high school archetype (not alone in freshening it up with the delightful 21 Jump Street this year), it's about the characters as people, not as stereotypes. It's the protagonist Troy, played by Jacob Wysocki, who makes the journey worthwhile. He's wonderfully relatable in his self-deprecating fantasies and bursts of teenage horniness. Here he finds not only direction in life but someone to share it with too. It's a great feel-good archetype that this film really makes work with its great soundtrack and sense of humour. Although perhaps Matt O'Leary's Marcus feels a little too contrived in his role to fit in the Kurt Cobain grunge rocker who throws far too much kindness onto Troy than is believable, the film otherwise makes great use of its side characters, particularly Troy's father, the army type with surprising compassion. Unfortunately the film suffers from indie cinema traits of flat cinematography and lighting which does weigh the film down quite a bit but otherwise it's one of the most watchable films of the year.7/10

I have been a fan of Matthew Lillard since scream (one of my favorite horror series) I even watched without a paddle and SLC punk just for Lillards performance. This being his directorial debut I couldn't resist giving it a watch. The movie really caught my attention early on, it reminded me of other quirky films such as Napoleon Dynamite and Juno. I could really tell Lillard was passionate about the source material making it all that much better, I felt the film really picked up and was at it's best at the concert where Troy realized the lifestyle he was missing out on and I know this subject of bullying and a "loser" find a niche and becomes "popular" has been beat over the head but this movie did a really good job at telling this story. That being said the ending sort of dragged on a bit and abruptly ended without (in my opinion) finishing the story it started. But all in all i recommend giving this film a look especially if your a fan of Lillard or of Zero to Hero tales. 6/10

I haven't yet seen this yet, but in response to the review on Mathew Lillard, I did not realize people got beef with him. I think he's a great actor and all the friends I've known throughout life, has nothing but positive stuff to say about him. Of course, this was the 90s and I was a teenager at the time. I first discovered him in the movie Scream and I did enjoy him and the movie a lot! Once again, I was a teenager and this was the mid-90s. Then again, I thought he was AMAZING in SLC Punk. That used to be one of my favorite films when it came out and its been years since I've seen it. Then my bf and I watched it a few months ago, and its been forever... I forgot how well-written that film was and Lillard's performance was perfect! The only reason I would think anyone has issues with that guy is because he's not a mainstream actor and he lost his popularity in the 90s. And we all know how 'uncool' it is to like 90s actors. The only 90s actor who became popular, years after his time, is Paul Rudd. =]