Mopie at Big Fat Deal had this to say about the movie In Her Shoes:
It’s great that Jennifer Weiner has a movie out based on one of her books, and that it’s getting good reviews, and that she’s happy about it. But Toni Colette, as wonderful as she is, is not fat. Can’t we please for the love of god stop with this size ten “movie fat” shit and let some fat actress represent?
I haven’t seen the movie or read the book, but I totally agree with this statement. I was totally disappointed with the Bridget Jones movies for this reason: I found it insulting that they didn’t bother to find a size-appropriate, British actress for the lead role. Why was that so hard? Why did the producers act like they had no choice but to go back to the usual over-exposed skinny American actresses that we see all the time? The overuse of just a few women with similar dimensions is tiresome and oppressive: in American cinema I, and women who look like me, don’t exist.
It also bothers me because actresses like Zellweger and Collette shouldn’t have to compromise their health by gaining and losing (and gaining and losing) so much weight when there are SO MANY average-sized women who can play these roles.