As you likely already know, this sequel takes place in the same place, with additional cast members, a few years removed from the original. Meryl Streep's character, Donna, passed away the previous year and her daughter finds herself pregnant in the midst of opening a gorgeous, seriously over-staffed hotel in tribute to her mother, with the weather and a potential break up with her significant other presenting challenges. The movie cleverly flashes back to the story of Donna as a young woman as she graduates from college, travels through Europe and has sex with three attractive men in short succession, although she swears she's not that kind of girl. Everyone looks fabulous, and with Donna's encouragement, they tend to throw caution to the winds.
Normally I'm as happy as the next movie-goer to indulge in a full blown, feel good fantasy - populated by fit and beautiful people - and I did mostly enjoyed this movie. However, the fat jokes were disappointing. The movie invites everyone to enjoy it's fantasy world for a couple of hours, but not so much if you're overweight. Instead, the only doses of reality the movie serves up are for the one chunky cast member, suggesting she's been of little interest to the hot stud until he's too old to sow his oats and that carbs may well be her soulmate (and why is she constantly eating?). Maybe this is the screenwriter's attempt to include a character that most middle aged women can relate to, but then Sophie's grandmother flat out warns her that doing something will make her fat, so I can't give them any credit for sensitivity.
As annoying as all that is, the most disturbing for me was the weird bait and switch they did in reintroducing one of the fathers. You think you're going to see Bill, but wait, could that obese man really be him? Oh no, it's a trick, that's actually Bill's twin brother. Ha ha ha. It's completely unnecessary and worse, it forces the movie-goer to be complicit in the joke, because we all know Bill wasn't that fat in the first movie. I'd bet most people were briefly shocked until they figured it out. I'm 25 lbs overweight and judge myself pretty much daily about it. I'd be fine with being confronted with my own fat phobia if I thought that was the point. Instead it just feels gross when it's simply meant to be a punchline.
So clearly the movie pushed my buttons, lol.
Normally I'm as happy as the next movie-goer to indulge in a full blown, feel good fantasy - populated by fit and beautiful people - and I did mostly enjoyed this movie. However, the fat jokes were disappointing. The movie invites everyone to enjoy it's fantasy world for a couple of hours, but not so much if you're overweight. Instead, the only doses of reality the movie serves up are for the one chunky cast member, suggesting she's been of little interest to the hot stud until he's too old to sow his oats and that carbs may well be her soulmate (and why is she constantly eating?). Maybe this is the screenwriter's attempt to include a character that most middle aged women can relate to, but then Sophie's grandmother flat out warns her that doing something will make her fat, so I can't give them any credit for sensitivity.
As annoying as all that is, the most disturbing for me was the weird bait and switch they did in reintroducing one of the fathers. You think you're going to see Bill, but wait, could that obese man really be him? Oh no, it's a trick, that's actually Bill's twin brother. Ha ha ha. It's completely unnecessary and worse, it forces the movie-goer to be complicit in the joke, because we all know Bill wasn't that fat in the first movie. I'd bet most people were briefly shocked until they figured it out. I'm 25 lbs overweight and judge myself pretty much daily about it. I'd be fine with being confronted with my own fat phobia if I thought that was the point. Instead it just feels gross when it's simply meant to be a punchline.
So clearly the movie pushed my buttons, lol.