Fat Amy Review

Rating: Null/10 (28 April 2013)

"Horizontal Running" "What's your name?" "Fat Amy." "You call yourself Fat Amy?" "Yeah, so twig bitches like you don't do it behind my back." In Pitch Perfect, Rebel Wilson most accurately conveys the character of Fat Amy by the material and direction she was given by the director. However, much of the credit is given to Rebel Wilson as an actress. This movie was one of the most surprisingly prosperous movies, being described as "The spirited a cappella singing in Pitch Perfect makes a predictable, feather-light coming-of-age film irresistibly fun," by Claudia Puig, from USA Today. How easily Fat Amy's comments were delivered, her timing, and her sheer "fat power" make Pitch Perfect the successful movie it is, and gives Rebel Wilson the reputation she has as an actress today.
Fat Amy is so naturally comical that the jokes and one-liners that she delivers just seem to roll off of her tongue. In one scene, she approaches two of the members of the Treblemakers, the rival a cappella group, and she asks, "What are you two turd burgers doing? Dressing for comfort?" It is just the right amount of insult and sarcasm mixed with the courtesy of asking how they are doing, that it makes it acceptable to find it comical. Another example of her sheer, natural humor is when she is talking to one of the over-confident men from the Treblemakers, Bumper, and he says to her, "So I have a feeling that we should kiss. Is that feeling a good feeling or an incorrect feeling?" and Fat Amy quickly replies, "I sometimes have a feeling I can do crystal meth, but then I think, mmm... better not." This is one of the most quoted lines from the movie because of how natural it sounded and how easily it was delivered. She is not afraid to be brutally honest and that is what gives Fat Amy her edge, making her even more likable.
Timing is of the essence when doing any type of comedy. It determines how the joke is delivered and received, and it can also alter the meaning of the joke. Fat Amy is particularly good at this aspect in her role of this movie. "It helps that Fat Amy is played by Rebel Wilson, my favorite eccentric Aussie practitioner of lip-curled comic timing," is how Amy Biancolli, from the San Francisco Chronicle, describes her. In one scene, the Barden Bellas, an all girls a capella group, are revealing secrets to one another so that they can grow closer. One of the members is suspected to be a lesbian, whom Fat Amy voices her hunch about throughout the movie, and when Cynthia Rose, the suspected lesbian, is about to reveal her secret, Fat Amy says, "We all know where this is going. Lesbihonest." After she says that line, Cynthia Rose admits to having a serious gambling problem. Everyone from the group is surprised that that was what she admitted too, but then she says, "It all started after I broke up with my girlfriend." Right then, Fat Amy says, "Whoomp, there it is." The timing of when she delivers her line is perfect. She leaves enough time for the audience to recognize what was just revealed and react to it. If they were not delivered in the way that she does, the comical value would greatly decrease.
Rebel Wilson is a larger woman and portrays her character perfectly. She is very aware of her weight and she leads with calling herself "Fat Amy" when she meets new people. One of the many instances that Fat Amy displays her "fat power" is when she is talking to the "Deaf Jews Club" and she says, "Alright, I'll give you my number," as if they were interested in her. She does this after she is very insistent that "Shalom" isn't a word when the two Jewish men greet her. She has such confidence in herself, regardless of her size, that she actually plays it up and flaunts it. One of the other instances is when she is sitting in a pool with two very chiseled, good-looking men. Her swimsuit is very loud and very colorful, her sunglasses are on, and she is showing the utmost self-confidence. During an argument between the Bellas, she admits that she joined the a cappella group to get away from all of her boyfriends, who are possibly the two men from the vast amount, that are in the pool with her. This is such an unexpected quality that Fat Amy has, that it not only adds to her character, but to the movie as well.
Pitch Perfect is one of the very first movies that is completely about a capella. It is one of the most surprisingly prosperous and entertaining movies that came out last year, grossing $65,001,093. Rebel Wilson as an actress, and Fat Amy's character made this movie what it is. It was the ease of the delivery of her lines, her comical timing, and her "fat power" that she so boldly showed that brought this to the next level of hilarity and gave the movie its social standing. Without her, this movie could have been just another mediocre comedy. Fat Amy is who made horizontal running possible.