User Reviews

Terrible movie full of stereotypes, generalizations, hatred and disapproval for other ethnicities, hatred for interracial relationships, body shaming, condescending, hypocritical, etc..

stereotypical flamboyant character who happens to be gay

Jazmin and Stacy shame others, overeat, and somewhat complain. They do all this but want sympathy from others and they're allowed to point out someone that's thin and make comments about them, but forbid if someone suggest healthy ways of loosing weight like Jenny craig or something.. no, they halfway exercise, Jazmin takes a mess load of diet pills every morning before work and still eats too much at any given chance. She always complain about loosing weight but doesn't want to put the work in. She has an ideal weight but does nothing about it.

Writing was terrible. Actors if given more could have delivered. Not enough action nor entertainment. Not enough character development. Alot of things didn't make sense and came out of nowhere.. like the trip to palm beach resort. I know it said that Jazmin won it, but it didn't give any details about the contest or what she had to do or submit to win. How many submissions were entered by Jazmin. What was submitted it was just like oh i knew i was going to win.. then off they go. Confusing

There was absolutely no spark between Tundae and Jazmin.

The ending was terrible.

Supposedly I'm assuming 6 months to a year goes by . Her dreams of becoming a plus sized fashion designer has taken off and on its way to become globally known. All of a sudden a much needed vacation again.. aka.. she her cousin, jazmin fly to nigeria to drop in on Tundae who never contacted jazmin or anything after they all left. Never even came to say goodbye or nothing before they left. He was still living his life not thinking about her, despite what he said..

to make it believable, there should have been scenes where they showed him missing Jazmin and thinking about her after the trip . Like they could have showed him constantly picking up the phone attempting to call her but didn't, attempting to write letters, maybe talking to his friends and family about her, just scenes of him reflecting on what happened..none of that. Scenes to reflect his words about waiting for her untill she found out how to love herself.

Instead their whole love story seemed fake to me. Terrible writing and in general made it seem like he wasn't interested in jazmin, but was only there because he felt sorry for her, and he wanted to change her, there were no substainal conversations in dept between them. He mirrored her answers and the conversations were him trying to make her feel better about herself.. not very much romantic interest. I felt friendship.

He was trying to change her. He didn't like that she used profanity . She made changes to her life for him

just like stacy did. As soon as her love interest would say something about opening up or her apperance.. she would change completely for him. He inquired about her shyness and called her shy..pretty much oogling over the fact jazmin was outspoken and confident on the dance floor.

Stacy then less then 1 minute later forced herself to be on the dance floor ...all for him.. he took off her glasses never asking her how she felt about them, she never wore them again...etc...

to me jazmin didnt get the man. He clearly didnt show enough interest and left her alone without any contact close to a year. Didn't even call or send flowers congratulating her on her success. Never said anything before they left.

Came up with some i was waiting on u type of bs.

It seemed like he wanted to make her feel better about herself as a friend with benefits, but he wasnt really interested in her. He pitted her and felt the deseperation for life, for a man.. so he gave her what he thought she wanted. He would have dropped her completely once she knew that she didnt need him anymore.

It seemed like he treated her as a charity case and project..

the cousin seemed to be genuine and genuinely sorry about not being there for her cousin when she was bullied and needed her to be and try to make amends all throughout the movie to Jazmin.. but neither Stacy nor Jazmin had hers when she was being body shamed. The movie made it acceptable to shame thin people. So the cousin was shamed, none of the girls stood up for her, nor tried to help her wiith her bulimia. None of them were concerned that by the end of the movie her eating disorder took a turn for the worse and morphed as she overeats to fit Nigeria beauty standards in order to find a man.

This movie missed the bar.

It should have been a self acceptance movie for all.. instead it was a self hate movie.

I don't think neither of the girls really truly began to love themselves. Mostly everything they did was for men and because of men, and beauty standards.

Easily the worst movie i've seen in the last year, and as a part-time manager for a cinema i've seen a lot.

Mo'Nique is fat. Almost every scene in Phat Girls is about how she's fat. How fat is she? Her character Jazmin is so fat that when she gets dressed on screen, the soundtrack plays "Brick House". She's so fat she eats at Fatassburger. She's so fat that when she meets a hot rich doctor he has to be from a foreign country(Nigeria), because apparently only Arican guys love large women, or so the the movie would make you believe. Jazmin's so fat that the movie reduces her to a single discernible characteristic, which is the mark of an awful movie.

I'm not saying there aren't issues our society needs to confront when it comes to women and body image. What i'm saying is this movie has nothing to do with the issue. It pretends to be about not being shallow and getting to the point where a large woman feels "fat-tabulous", but it's as sad and phony as all those skinny bitches Jazmin belittles and envies. The whole think reeks of hypocrisy. It OK to be a fat girl, but if you want to be a guy you better be a model and have a six pack.

Avoid this movie at all costs, unless you like fat jokes or just hate healthy people. If either of those are you then this movie is for you.

I hope everyone no matter what their size is happy with who they are. However I wish people would stop trying to tell me it's OK to be fat, that their is a healthy way to be fat. If that's true than I guess all doctors are wrong and there's no such thing as diabetes and heart disease. Put the burger and chips down and go for a walk.

Comedian Mo'Nique's first starring film vehicle, Phat Girlz, suffers from a bad case of undernourishment. Not that the movie doesn't serve up heaping amounts of fat jokes, or that it doesn't deliver targeted gags for an underserved niche audience – fat women. Phat Girlz's anemia instead results from the unoriginal script, uncontrolled performances, and clunky direction. Writer-director Likké's film is as static as her camera shots, and as unsupervised and rowdy as a college frat party. After a disorienting opening sequence that reveals the sexy dream fantasies of Jazmin Biltmore (Mo'Nique), a character whom we've yet to meet, the film's meager plot gets rolling. Jazmin works behind a counter in the women's wear division of a department store, but she aspires to be a fashion designer of plus-sized women's clothing. Her boss (Noseworthy) won't let her near the store's buyer (an especially good Roberts) to show him her sketches. Then Jazmin wins a weeklong spa vacation from one of the many diet plans she subscribes to, and takes her full-bodied friend Stacey (Johnson) and stick-thin cousin Mia (Drake) along for the trip. As luck would have it, the hotel is teeming with handsome and buff Nigerian doctors, who in keeping with their cultural traditions, prefer women with ample meat on their bones. Of course, all the doctors and other men in the film are as fit as male models, with six-pack abs and toned muscles. In an uncommon twist, they are also frequently the subjects of slo-mo body scans by the camera. However, the movie's double standard is clear: Large women deserve equal opportunities in love and clothing lines, but fat men are better off unseen and unheard. Mo'Nique's comic persona doesn't blend well into this story: She plays sassy or pouty but any nuances of real character were left on the drawing board. God help the tacky victim who suggests Jazmin try Jenny Craig because that will lead to an unbridled tongue-lashing. And a later scene in which Jazmin has an emotional breakdown and trashes her bedroom has all the grace of lethal hurricane. You've got to appreciate that the film includes questions about the Nigerian custom of female circumcision, but the movie's impossibly happy ending and the chaotic nature of everything that has preceded it makes Phat Girlz a dish of empty calories.

Today was the first time for me watching Phat Girlz. I loved it, I always watch everything Mo'nique acts in because even though I don't know her she's my role model. I'm a thick madame too. Watching Phat Girlz,put a whole new spin on the way I think about myself. I put myself in Jasmine's place on Phat Girlz, it made me love myself more. People don't know the issues healthy women go through with their weight, but watching this movie made me stop caring what other people think about me. Thank you Mo'nique for making me feel special for one time in my life, to where other people criticize the way you are made, how you look, how you dress. You make this big girl feel like me and I thank you for that.

Phat Girlz

WHAT movie was that? It's probably the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life. I hardly found will in myself to watch it until the end. The beginning was already horrible - a really horrible sex dream. And it got worse. Yes, being overweight might be a bit difficult. But it's just as difficult as you make it for yourself. First step is accepting yourself, then the others will start to except you as well. And if you can't accept yourself - come on and work on yourself! But this main lady there was really creepy. Swearing so badly, breaking things... Like a mad woman! I hope they didn't try to show her as a role model. And what do we learn? That only Nigerian man can accept you as you are, because in their culture woman are more curvier. I didn't find this movie amusing in any possible way. Why did they even gave money to such a horrible project??? They could've done a movie ten times better with the overweight problem. And I thought that this movie was never going to end. Every time it seemed to end, it went on. 1/10

According to the IMDb "Phat Girlz" was directed by an adult human. Okay, let's go with that.

Imagine hitting your child over the head with a cinder block and handing them the digital camera. This is the movie they'd make if they survived the cerebral hemorrhaging. Ostensibly "Phat Girlz" was made to celebrate Big Beautiful Black Women, but this movie does them no justice. It's a one-dimensional fantasy without a single link to reality... it's part cartoon, part comedy sketch, part morality play. It's a naive, one-note, knee-jerk reaction to a problem that is never clearly established or resolved. And it's bad.

Mo'Nique is the only good thing here, a natural, likable actress with enough personality to keep this from being an utter humiliation. Sadly, this is filmmaking at its most inept and incompetent. The movie is shot on shabby digital video with sloppy cuts and lazy dissolves, and the basic rules of direction are ignored: actors don't speak into the camera or look at their co-stars- there is barely any interaction between the actors at all. Most of Mo'Nique's "punchlines" aren't spoken- they occur in her head as voice-overs. For some reason whenever she is sexually aroused we hear the sound effects of jungle drums and screeching monkeys. Interesting choice.

The plot is heinous: three women go on vacation, the two fat women are worshipped as goddesses while the skinny one is taunted and scorned. Perhaps it's because they're vacationing on a magical island populated by Nigerian doctors who love fat black women. If this is the case why did the docs leave Nigeria in the first place? The skinny gal is assumed to be sick/dying because she weighs less than 300 pounds. Switcheroo most likely. The hunky Nigerian M.D.'s don't just appreciate Mo'Nique's ample body- they can talk of nothing else! Their idea of foreplay is over-buttering a biscuit and jamming it down her throat. This guarantees the lard will keep happening. If you consider stretch marks and fat rolls a turn-on you will love this picture.

Mo'Nique eats and dates until she catches her boyfriend eating dinner with a woman who is unfat and therefore evil. She suspects her man of cheating but he assures her he would never even consider intercourse with a woman weighing less than a quarter-ton. Reassured, Mo'Nique destroys the mannequin in her hotel room and tosses her television box out the window. Perhaps this is symbolic of something. When she re-gains consciousness she is back at work where her boss Eric Roberts- in a role that counts towards his Community Service- decides to make her rich and famous for no reason whatsoever. Her clothing line- Thick Madame- sweeps the galaxy and after becoming a multi-jillionaire she goes back to Nigeria to see if her magical fat-loving gorgeous doctor boyfriend is still available.

He is.

The end credits come on after that, but the film was so powerful I had lost the ability to read them. Maybe it's for the best that the names of the perpetrators aren't dragged through the mud. If you're thinking of seeing "Phat Girlz," don't.

GRADE: D-

I watched this film the other night and I've gotta tell ya: the one thing that bothered the living daylights outa me about it was how amateurish and cheap it was done. How sad, for the film had a nice little theme and it gets lost over the poor production quality and overall amateurism of the film.

Now pay careful attention to this description: Monique plays a talented, but insecure fashion designer who works at a dead end job at a top chain department store. In her day to day work and in her designs, she has captured a way to cash in on a lucrative fashion market by bringing a line of clothes with style and class to full figured women like herself. By sheer luck, she wins a contest that takes her to a spa that allows her to find love within herself and with herself so that she will have the courage to advance herself and her talent.

That's what the film is about. This is how the film plays: Monique plays an insecure, loud mouth, obnoxious fat woman who lives with her thin, fashion obsessed hard bodied cousin. Monique works at a department store with her equally stereotypical friends: the older, fat in her shell woman and the loud mouth gay man. One day the head buyer comes into the store and she gets stopped by the stereotypical success-ivy league type young white boss from talking to him and showing her sketches. By chance she wins a contest off of one of her diet pill bottles to go to a top spa in Palm Springs, California. There she meets professional doctors from Africa who care about whats on the inside, not out, but Monique is too burned by society to believe it.

She comes back to Los Angeles, has a total hissy fit and realizes she should have confidence within herself. She gets up enough nerve to show her sketches to the head buyer when several stereotypical fat women representing the other minorities can't find clothes to fit them. In speaking with the head designer, she gets a chance and in a year, she becomes the toast of that part of the fashion world.

That's the difference.

The production qualities are terrible which does not add to the credibility of the film at all, but this is a film with a great heart and a great message. Monique was perfect for the role as a few others in this - but you'll never focus in on that for all the other myriad of flaws in acting, production, editing, and music. And yes, I'll say this: the designs of the clothes could have been MUCH better.

This is one of those films I wish they took more time with, had more money, had better writers and would have given Monique her time to shine as it should have.

It is NOT the worst film, but it is not what it has the obvious potential to be either.

"Phat Girlz" (2006)

Directed By: Nnegest Likké

Starring: Mo'Nique, Kendra C. Johnson, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Joyful Drake, & Godfrey

MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (for sexual content and language, including some crude sexual references)

I feel sorry for this film. It has such a wonderful message and such a heart behind it. "Phat Girlz" could have been a wonderful, inspirational film. It's biggest problem, however, is that it simply isn't. It is just a dull, boring film with poor production values and lame, unfunny jokes. The plot, itself, is stretched far too thin, making for an almost painful viewing experience. There seemed to be massive dead spots within the film, in which the plot seemingly stops and the characters are merely floating along in nothingness. I have a feeling that, when the screenwriter, Nnegest Likké, decided to write the script, she knew what she wanted to do and how she wanted to get her message across…but she just didn't know how to do it effectively. Nothing seems to work as it was intended to. Unfortunately, no matter how big its heart it or how wonderful its message is, "Phat Girlz" is one of the least effective movies of the year.

Jazmin Biltmore (Mo'Nique) is an overweight department store worker who is becoming increasingly fed up with the awful clothes in the plus-sized section and the negative views on overweight people. She has taken to designing and making her own clothes and has taken an active role in boosting her self-confidence. When Jazmin wins a trip to Palm Springs via a diet pill sweepstake, she, along with Stacey (Johnson) and Mia (Drake), are swept off to a life of luxury. But, upon arrival, Jazmin realizes that her weight is far more of a hindrance than she originally thought. She can't use the robes provided by the hotel's spa and she cannot fit on the massage tables. Everything seems to be going poorly…until she meets the Nigerian Doctor Tunde (Jean-Louis), a sexy, handsome, and wealthy, man who finds himself smitten with Jazmin. But, in order to find true love and live happily ever after, Jazmin will have to look inside of herself. With a simple plot like this, how could it go around? With "Phat Girlz", it goes horribly wrong. It just doesn't work.

The biggest problem with "Phat Girlz" is its mediocre production values. I can take a theatrical film that looks like a direct-to-video release and have no problem with it whatsoever. In fact, if such a movie is good, this just lends to the movie's appeal for me, making me feel that the film was good without having a huge budget. "Phat Girlz", however, alternates between a polished and a grainy appearance, making the spots of poor value all the more distracting. There was no consistency in how the movie was shot, giving me the feeling as though I was on uneven ground the entire time. I have yet to decide whether there was a purpose to this method or whether or not they merely ran out of money before they were able to polish off the rest of the film, but, whatever the reason is, the movie looks particularly tacky. What an annoying way to make a movie! Note to all aspiring filmmakers: keep the quality of your movie consistent throughout. Do not change it every few minutes. That technique looks dreadful.

I wanted so desperately to love this movie. It seemed like a sure thing…but, when it was over, I realized that I had just seen one of the worst-made movies of the year. There are no jokes that work as they should, the direction flops wildly, the writing is cheesy and clichéd, and the production values are horribly tacky. The only saving grace is the movie's cast. Mo'Nique is a very lovable actress and handles her role quite nicely and with an ample amount of panache. Kendra C. Johnson provides a stark contrast to Mo'Nique's over-the-top craziness. She is calm, cool, and yet sure to deliver a few laughs--not through the jokes, but through her deliveries. I actually considered turning the movie off halfway through due to miserable boredom…but I decided to do my job and finish out so you don't have to. If you have not yet realized, I am telling you--no, I am begging you to not see this movie. The message of personal acceptance is nice and all, but it is wasted on a sub-par script and a mediocre direction. So, be happy with yourself, whether you are overweight or unattractive, and skip this movie now and forever.

Final Thought: It has a good message, but a horrible delivery.

Overall Rating: 3/10 (C)

I'm a slim chick and I love this movie, actually one of my favorite movies EVER!! Even when Monique and the white guy turn around and he says "I hate skinny witches" HAHAHA.. It's all about people's perceptions on themselves and other people. Accept yourself for who you are, come out your shell and love yourself. Once you do, you'll do what you need to do for yourself. Go ahead Thick Madams!! Shiiiii, y'all check out how Monique looks now, this movie needed to be done. And ain't nobody had to fall in love with men all the way from Africa, like Stacy said, "who said anything about love? It's a lust thang" lorddddd.

To be honest, I found Phat Girls very disappointing. It could have been so much better. I know Mo'nique can play a confident woman, I watch The Parkers. I didn't mind her playing a woman who isn't confident and has self-esteem issues, that is a good role as it reflects many of the target audience. What I did mind was the overall message was so pushed down to make way for hateful discrimination in this wish-fulfillment movie that it was overly blatant. And I don't mind wish-fulfillment movies, that's why I bought this so I could live a little fantasy where an overweight woman (like I am) can get the hot guy and live happily ever after.

What bothered me the most was how in your face the whole "I'm fat, and everyone around me is a hater" the movie was. Seriously, everyone who was not Mo'nique (and I do love her, really), her friend, and the two Nigerian guys they hook up with was just portrayed as one-diminsional villains. Every woman (okay, with the exception of a few nameless Nigerian women in one scene) was a sheer bitch to Mo'nique, every guy didn't appreciate her or was just there to trade fat jokes. Now, I'm the size as her friend, Sally, Sandra, something with an "S", but my mother was Mo'nique's size. Never have we encountered the sheer stupidity in the film where a fast food server would say, loud enough for everyone to hear, about what fat asses we were. This scene in the movie was just to have Mo'nique share "Yo Momma" jokes and verbally beat down the kid. While, yes, for his comment he deserved a beating, it did not show Mo'nique's character in a good light. Instead, it portrayed her as a person who is verbally abusive to anyone whom she can be abusive to in order to boost her self-esteem.

When meeting with the Nigerian men, they swarm around Mo'nique and her friend, leaving the skinny cousin to the sides. While this is expected in a wish-fulfillment movie, again, it was handled poorly. The men make comments (in Nigerian) on how the cousin must be dying and malnurished. Which made no sense to me since they are at a pool in Palm Springs surrounded by the "American" ideal of beauty in women, and Mia was not that skinny. She was fashionably skinny, but not to the point where anyone looking at her would think malnurished. Her bones were not showing and she clearly had some muscles and tone. It was just to drive home that skinny was evil. This skinny girl, who was portrayed as self-centered and rather mean, deserved being on the other end while Mo'nique was lifted as a goddess. I don't mind that, and the only saving grace was the development of the cousin by the end, but at that moment it was so heavy handed a neon sign flashing, "Phat is sexier than skinny" would have been more subtle.

There was also Mo'nique's character's attitude. As mentioned, she got in a verbal fight with a kid because he insulted her. For most of the movie, we are treated to a barrage of hateful rhetoric either spoken or thought through this character. It's considered okay because, of course, every person in the world is out to be mean to Mo'nique because no one realizes that she is really a sexy goddess who deserves respect. However, it's hard to respect a person whom you know is thinking mean thoughts over every little thing. I would have enjoyed her character more and the movie more it wasn't so ham handedly done to pound it into my skull that Mo'nique, and only women who not skinny, deserve to be well rounded and get respect. If you are not a size six, the whole world hates you, so be mean and spiteful back because you've been hurt.

I really wanted to enjoy this movie more. I really did. As I said, I knew it was wish-fulfillment. Some of the things I've seen complained about, I actually liked about the movie. Like Mo'nique's break down scene. I've felt like that, and it made the movie better that afterward she picked herself up and made a decision to make her life better. Instead of just waiting for Prince Charming, her character got her courage to make her dreams come true. That part I liked. I liked the hidden message of be happy with who you are, even if you are not skinny. Well, the skinny part got muddled since the show hammered a lot of "Skinny bitches are evil" into our heads. So I guess the message was really, "If you're not skinny, be happy with who you are." I just really wish that, in order to portray this character, the movie did not feel like it had to beat into the audience that "Phat" is wonderful and "Skinny" is bad. I know Mo'nique can play a positive role model to overweight women. As I said, I watch her on The Parkers and feel that her character there is a much better representation than this character. I leave watching the Parkers feeling better about myself and enjoy Mo'nique's performance. I left watching this feeling embarrassed for being overweight because Mo'nique was portrayed as such an awful person. And I know this movie could have been so much better.

So, for what it's worth, I gave it five out of ten. It lived up to being a wish-fulfillment movie, it tried to bring a positive message, and I enjoyed Mo'nique even if I didn't really like her character for the first half or so of the movie.