Wide Screen: Made of Honor
Character: Hillary, played by Emily Nelson
Credits: It looks like she’s only been acting a few years, although she looks really familiar to me. Maybe I saw her on ER?
Plot points: She plays one of the bridesmaids in lead character Hannah’s wedding, along with Bitter Cousin Bridesmaid and Extraneous Third Bridesmaid. She announces at brunch that she wants a “size 8” bridesmaids dress. The other bridesmaids choke on their food and ask if she wouldn’t be more comfortable in a 12. She says no, because she’s on a diet, which consists of no food, but a strange concoction of season salt and apple cider or something. Throughout the movie, she’s seen drinking this concoction. Patrick Dempsey’s character, Tom, mentions a couple of times that he thinks she should eat some actual food, and she nearly passes out a few times. Tom says something like “oh, the things you women do to fit into a dress.” (As the “good guy,” he never makes fun of her or singles her out for being fat.) On the day of the wedding she looks the same size (which is much bigger than 8, or even 12, I would think) but zips into the dress, which later rips up the side.
Stereotypes: She’s shown dieting and desperate for a man; her clothes are too small for her and her dress rips. She’s also really perky the whole time, but I don’t know if that counts as a stereotype.
Sex/Romance/Attractiveness: During the same brunch scene, she says she’s dieting because “I’m going to look amazing in the dress, meet a Scottish man, and be happy finally.” She seems to hit it off with a Scottish man towards the end of the movie, and when her dress splits up the side (har, har) he collects kilt pins to pin it up, and tell her it looks nice. You get the sense that the two of them are going to hook up.
Fat jokes: I should note that the people behind me snickered when she came on screen for the first time. Fat = automatically funny. The “I’m on a diet!” thing is played for laughs, as is the fact that she wants a size 8 dress. The “zip her into the dress” scene is also supposed to be funny. And the worst fat joke is when she sits down and the dress splits.
The bottom line: I was bracing myself for worse than this turned out to be, as I’d heard there were jokes at the expense of the “fat bridesmaid.” The main laughs all stem from her initial choice to try this insane diet to get into a dress that’s too small for her. The diet is portrayed as dangerous and unreasonable, and the humor would have worked with an actress of average size also… but it should be noted that nobody actually tells her she’s pretty the way she is. (Which she is; the actress is cute as a button.) I do have to give them credit for casting an actress who is genuinely full figured, though, and I think Emily Nelson does a great job with the part.
Rating on the offense-o-meter (10 being Norbit): 6
But how’s the movie?: Oh my god, I loved it. I love romantic comedies, especially if they involve weddings (The Wedding Singer, The Wedding Planner, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Best Friend’s Wedding… everything except The Wedding Date, for some reason.) and I thought the two leads had amazing chemistry. It’s cheesy, of course, but I really liked it. I am the only person in the whole world who did, however.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Celebrities, Emily Nelson, Fat Positive, Fatism, Meta, Movies, Wide Screen
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I wrote a similar post about the movie here:http://jigglybits.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/made-of-honor/. Apparently I was squirming in my seat the entire movie because afterwards one of my friends said “you’re going to go home and write about this, aren’t you?”
Well, heck yeah! I was so offended. Ugh. As soon as she came on, I was like….uh oh.
But the movie was good, if you forget the fact that it’s My Best Friend’s Wedding in reverse (and strangely updated) and if you disregard the fat bridesmaid comments…
You’re not alone! My BFF and I *loved* it. I didn’t find their treatment of Hillary that offensive as a fat girl. I found it offensive as a feminist. I don’t think her remark about fitting into a size 8, hooking up with a Scottish guy, and finally being happy is so much about her size as it is about her being a woman, who can clearly ONLY BE HAPPY once she lands her man. Argh. I did not, however, appreciate the dress-ripping thing. But Hillary handled it better than I ever would. You have to admit it, girlfriend has a pair.
I watched My Best Friend’s Wedding the day after and normally, I love that movie, but it hella annoyed me. Heh. Also, I love the Wedding Date! I think *I’m* the only one who likes that movie :D
I haven’t seen this movie, and I’m really not the romcom type so I probably won’t, but in that picture you have posted up there is amazing, this girl is smokin’ hot (and has a ba-zillion watt smile).
And more importantly, where can I find that dress she’s wearing because it is amazing.
Not sure I’ll go and see it on this recommendation… And kilt pins would be pretty uncomfortable holding your dress together, I’d have thought.
What’s this Scottish-guy thing? I keep hearing about the mysterious desirability of Scottish guys…
Honestly. They’re much like guys anywhere, only (in general) they get worse sunburn when it’s hot.
(I can say this with absolute certainty. I’m Scottish!)
You’re not the ONLY one who liked it…
we’re some of the few, the proud, the- oh, wait, that’s not right :-p
but yeah, while watching it, I was asking myself “did they REALLY need to add all those jabs at the big girl? i mean, really…”
Anywho, I completely understand the Scottish guy obsession.
Shall I mention…
*David Tennant? (mine!) :-p
*Gerard Butler?
*Ewan McGregor?
*James McAvoy?
and the list goes on…
(and I know there’s no chance in anywhere, but John Barrowman… needs to be mentioned… love him!)
It seems every time I find a hot British guy to have a giddy squeal over… he’s more than likely Scottish… :)
(and honestly, the accent doesn’t hurt. can’t explain it, can’t understand it sometimes, but i friggen love it!) :-p
Ok, must stop talking now.
Have a lovely day!
<3 Joanie
I love predictable chick flicks and rom coms! I can’t wait for it to come across the pond!
I should have mentioned, the wedding takes place in Scotland. So the “Scottish guy” thing made sense in context…
I liked Made of honor better than My best friend’s…, I felt the first one was more about love and the second more about “he’s mine, and i want him now”, annoying.
And I wasn’t offended about Hillary, I took it as “stupid things you do”, like wearing shoes that hurt to a party cause they’re cute. I found more offensive the treatment they gave to the cousin (Busy Phillips), like the stereotypical scorned women, jelous and without a life (plus drunk and promiscuous)
Because OBVIOUSLY the only reason anyone would want to lose weight is to fit into a small dress and land a man. We never think about our health or how we feel or anything. That’s why we OBVIOUSLY only use ridiculous means and never, say, use a program designed by our doctor or stick to the classic “balanced diet and regular exercise” schtick.
Ugh, chick flicks. I hate them. Give me blood and guts or fighting robots any day.
I’m fascinated by romantic comedies. They are almost always about issues of intimacy, and yet they are universally derided as trash.
Usually, these kinds of movies are selling what I see as a very patriarchal brand of propaganda – that completeness and authentic femininity are fulfilled by a man and a family.
I’ve coined a certain kind of movies “dick flicks.” You know, the movies where the masculine hero is impossibly perfect? Even his flaws are perfect. Yet these movies are rarely derided with the same intensity as chick flicks.
My issue with My Best Friend’s Wedding (which I also pulled out and watched the next day, Sparkle Pants) is that although I love the ending, and Cameron and Julia are great, Dermot Mulroney does absolutely nothing for me. His character seems like kind of an ass, and he’s not attractive to me whatsoever. I also don’t buy the friendship between him and Juliette in the film; Made of Honor really does a good job with Hannah and Tom’s friendship, I thought.
I love romcoms. I decided a couple of years ago that the perfect one is “The Wedding Singer.” I should find where I decided that. Heh.
i love chick flicks, rom com’s, whatever you call them. i love the soothing predictability of them with their happily ever after endings however, i do have one big bitch with them. invariably, one, if not both, characters is involved with someone else, often planning a wedding. sure it creates dramatic tension, but geesh, can’t we find a good movie where both parties are happily single?!
Great post! I can’t wait to go through the archives. I never even thought of examining a movie from this angle, it’s really interesting.
I’m not a fan of chick flicks. Horror, suspense, and psychological thrillers are my style. There are only a select few I like.
On the wedding theme though, I loved Muriel’s Wedding. Even though Muriel stole from her employer and based her self-worth on getting married, I loved that she stood up to her so-called friends when they made fun of her fat (and Toni Collette I don’t consider fat) and that guy she married wanted to stay with her, but she left HIM. And she loved ABBA. ;-)
As for the Scottish dudes, I don’t know what it is about that side of the pond, but they grow them good over there. I just love Scottish/British/Welsh/Irish men in general. I love to hear them talk. That’s why BBC America is a favorite channel of mine.
I liked the movie, but totally heaved a big sigh when the typical “fat bridesmaid” stuff started happening. Can she look pretty in a bridesmaid dress that fits her the way she is AND meet a hott Scottish guy AND be happy, all without swilling season salt and vinigar from a bottle? I don’t think the other characters were outright mean to her or anything, but she totally had that whole paraiod fat girl thing going on that I hate. I will say that I got excited at the bachelorette tea or whatever it was because she was wearing this great dress from Torrid that I own and look really hot in.