Dumplin’ is all set up to be a gigantic satire about beauty pageant culture deep in the Conservative Heartland. However, like the sweet sincere residents in most of those little Texas towns, Dumplin’ decides against that, pivoting instead toward a sweet character study. There’s nothing really incisive about Dumplin’, but it’s a sweet story about several awesome women finding their self confidence through a beauty pageant. Perfect for a feel good Netflix and chill.
Welcome to Texas, Dolly Parton’s backyard. At least it is for Willowjean (Danielle Macdonald), who grows up learning from her aunt Lucy (Hilliary Begley) just how amazing Dolly is. Willowjean’s love of the singer helps cement the bond of friendship with her bestie Ellen (Odeya Rush). The two grow up in a town dominated by beauty pageantry, especially Willowjean’s mother, Rosie (Jennifer Aniston), a former winner herself. After aunt Lucy’s passing, Willowjean uncovers some unfilled pageant entry forms from her beloved aunt. Then and there, she and Ellen decide to take part in the pageant as a protest, joined by other friends Millie (Maddie Baillio) and Hanna (Bex Taylor-Klaus). However, that protest entry morphs into something else for each of the girls as the pageant date draws nearer and nearer.
Based on the marketing material for this film, it seems like Dumplin’ is heading straight towards satireville when it comes to pageants. However, this script eschews that well of material, and backgrounds the pageant in favor of getting inside the heads and hearts of several women to see what they want to get out of a pageant, particularly our mother and daughter, Rosie and Willowjean. Lucy’s death looms large over both of them: Rosie uses the pageant to keep herself busy and not grieve at the loss of her sister, and Willowjean wishes to honor Lucy by participating in this pageant. However, all these unresolved feelings find their ways into the pageant process. Poor Willowjean has internalized her insecurity toward herself about boys liking her, and projected it onto her pageant run, where Rosie is of no help because Willowjean reminds her of her dead sister she’s trying to evade. Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston are really good selling the emotional stakes of the situation, in particular Aniston, who is set up to be a bitchy unfeeling parent but plays Rosie more like a hurt woman who doesn’t understand her daughter that well. Each of the leads gets a meaningful emotional arc as the pageant reveals what each character wants to get out of the competition.
Dumplin’ is a perfect TGIF film for mother and daughter. It’s relatively harmless and has a message about finding your voice and confidence and the power of family and friends. The only big mistake the movie makes is not having Dolly Parton anywhere in this film; at least she’s sweet enough to let the filmmakers use her songs and give her props.