There’s a makeover montage in “Dumplin’,” and it’s a lulu. It is overseen by drag queens who specialize in doing Dolly Parton, and it doesn’t get any more extra than that. Like so much in this film, this makeover comes with a refreshingly smart, funny, wise, and warmhearted twist.
Dolly Parton is not just the avatar of aesthetics and attitude; she is pretty much the fairy godmother of the whole movie. Her music, including six classics and six new songs, is on the soundtrack and Dolly’s music, look, and spirit are the animating force in the life of Willowdean (Danielle Macdonald of “Patti Cake$”), the plus-size daughter of Rosie (Jennifer Aniston), a former beauty queen who still runs the local pageant, where she reigned as Miss Teen Bluebonnet 1991. That pageant, established in 1933, as Rosie will be happy to tell you, is facing its own competition from an upstart, Miss Teen Sweetwater (“Hashtag pop!”).
Willowdean impetuously decides to enter the Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant, along with her BFF Ellen (Odeya Rush), and two other unlikely candidates, the irrepressibly sunny Millie (“Hairspray Live’s” Maddie Baillio) and angry feminist Hannah (Bex Taylor-Klaus). Millie enters because she thinks it will be fun, and is confused when the other girls tell her they are entering as an act of rebellion. Willowdean and Ellen are not sure they agree when Hannah explains that, “It is a revolt against the oppressive hetero-patriarchy unconsciously internalized by the female psyche.”
The cheesy, superficial side of beauty pageants has been mined for humor and social satire in movies like “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” “Smile” and “Miss Congeniality.” There is a bit of that here but the focus is on the people, what they learn from each other and the pageant experience. Yes, a baton does get twirled and a tiara-ready updo gets thoroughly sprayed. But the characters are sympathetic to each other, at least most of the time, and the movie is always sympathetic to them. Rosie may be clinging to her one moment of feeling special, but she loves her daughter. And the movie respects the girls who take the pageant seriously without letting them or us think that they are defined by winning or losing the crown.
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