Review- Patti Cake$

Patti Cake$ was one of the breakout hits from the Sundance Film Festival and it can be a pretty hard pitch. When I first saw this film, it was at the London version of Sundance where it was the surprise film. Honestly, I'd heard about the film and the pitch of a film about an obese white woman becoming a rapper sounded like a nightmare to me. Still, I paid good money for that ticket and I was going to sit through it, like it or not. As it turns out, I loved the film and was very pleasently surprised. The plot follows Patricia Dumbrowski, an obese woman in her twenties living in New Jersey who has a dream of becoming a rapper. She spends her days dreaming about her potential life as a rapper, coming up with songs and lyrics for all her songs. Together with her friend Jheri, they try and follow her dream, a dream of musical success that Patti's mother Barb once dreamed of and still mourns today. If you've ever watched an independent comedy before, the story is going to cover all the beats you're expecting it to but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's a wonderful ride and one that took me through a huge spectrum of emotion.

Now, some people have pegged certain performances in this film for Oscars and while I'm not going to take it that far, I think you certainly have a talented cast putting their all into their roles here. The star of the film is Patti, played by Danielle MacDonald in a highly memorable performance. What's impressive is the warmth and genuine character she brings to someone who could very easily just be a blank stereotype. More impressive is that she wasn't able to rap at all before the film and while I may not be what you'd call a rap fan, she was convincing enough for me to believe she was a genuine rapper. The supporting cast do excellent work too, with the emotional standout being Bridget Everett as Patti's mother, a character with surprising emotional depth that is brought out gradually and powerfully. There's a great supporting cast of comic characters too with Jheri the rapping Pakistani friend, Nana who gets oddly involved in the rap songs and the wonderfully named Basterd the Antichrist who isn't all he seems.

As a comedy, it only makes sense that I talk about if the film is funny and, as all good comedies are, it's very funny. Importantly though, the jokes are never at the expense of characters. There are one-liners, amusing setups and some quite funny songs but you're laughing with characters, which brings me onto something else important. What Patti Cakes lacks in stacks of belly laughs, it makes up for in warmth and heart. By the end of the film, emotional moments start to pop up and you realise that you've been tricked into caring about the characters. In fact, there was a moment where I came kind of close to crying. The moments aren't so overwhelming that you forget it's a comedy and there's always a moment nearby that'll make you laugh again but still, there's an actual core to this movie that many comedies lack.

It's nothing big or revolutionary but Patti Cake$ is worth a watch because it's simply a really good time. It isn't an awards movie and I don't think it redefines comedy but I think if you give it a chance, you'd struggle not to enjoy yourself. I really can't think of any big flaws with this film so I happily give it a