'Phat Girlz' ... a feel-good comedy
published: Wednesday | May 31, 2006

Jimmy Jean-Louis (left) stars as Tunde and Mo'Nique as Jazmin Biltmore in 'Phat Girlz'. - CONTRIBUTED

IN THIS feel-good comedy with a positive message, Mo'Nique stands up for all the overweight women given short shrift by society. She portrays Jazmin Biltmore - a smart-mouthed aspiring fashion designer, one of a group of three friends which includes her hot-to-trot thin cousin Mia (Joyful Drake) and her frumpy friend Stacey (Kendra C. Johnson), who dreams of starting her own fashion line for big girls.

Meanwhile her crash diets aren't working and she hasn't been with a man in nine months. Then she wins a trip to Palm Springs and meets Tunde (Jimmy Jean-Louis), a Nigerian doctor, for whom big means beautiful. Romance is all set to bloom, but that's where this Cinderella story takes a sudden detour. Jazmin learns there's more to happiness than a gorgeous man, especially when her low self-esteem keeps him at arm's length.

Director Nnegest Likké wrote the screenplay for Phat Girlz, which also stars Eric Roberts and Jack Noseworthy.