Brittany Forgler (Jillian Bell) is the sort of character we need to see. Her BMI is high, her self-esteem is low. She's overweight, her health isn't good for a person of her age and her career is going nowhere. Her love life is pathetic, men are just using her for sex but she always fines a way to sneak in a joke.
She starts running and though she is out of breath and sweaty, she slowly starts getting better and the pounds do (mostly) keep falling off. She also finds good support in her neighbor, Katherine (Michaela Watkins) who is a former drug addict (way former) and is going through a divorce and fellow out of shape young person, Seth (Micah Stock) who couldn't even do a simple potato sack race with his son.
Together, almost on a whim, Brittany decides to run the New York City marathon, which inspires her to clean up her life. She gets a second job, house sitting and forms an awkward relationship with the fellow housesitter, Jern (Utkarsh Ambudkar), which is half brother-sister, half sexual. It isn't a traditional sort of rom-com relationship, but it oddly works.
But despite her efforts to rebuild her life, Brittany still doesn't like or understand when people are nice and kind and do sweet things for her and pushes even her new friends away. And then she gets hurt, and can't even run the marathon. She has to move back to Philadelphia and live with her sister and brother-in-law who helped raise her.
Eventually, after telling off another overweight person, Demetrius (Lil Rey Howery) inspires her that even more than losing weight, she needs an attitude change. Which is true.
After that, she moves back to New York, revitalizes her career in marketing, makes up with Seth and Katherine, even slowly prepares herself for a relationship with the odd-named Jern. She even makes it to the marathon the following year. When she nearly drops out, due to stomach cramps and cries, you cry with her.
But she finishes with the support of her friends and family both near and far. While it may not be as inspiring as they want it to be, I'm thrilled that Brittany got her life together and fully contributed to society as she has a lot to give. I'm glad she finally accepted that people are going to like her and look past her weight; I just wished she realized that sooner.
Bell does give an inspiring performance as Brittany could be my neighbor or former high school classmate. In fact, all the performances are good; the set is realistic and the film coheres very well together. My main problem is that the ending credits are boring. Still, that is a minor nitpick. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Brittany is finally able to get a dog by the end of the film as previously she couldn't even adopt a dog from a kill shelter, which is just sad.
-Brittany also creatively pads her resume. Apparently, she used to babysit for the Bidens.
-However, she has a low opinion of marriage and when Jern wants to stop having sex out of wedlock and plays the wedding march, she merely says that they'll stop having sex. I hope not, I like them together, once Jern gets his crap together.
-You do choose to be happy, regardless of what others think about you.
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