"Fat Kid Rules the World" is a title to a film that sounds like it is not all that great. When it comes to films, you should not judge a book--or in this case a movie--by its cover. In this case, I gave the film a shot and it was what I feared it would be, a slow moving snooze-fest.Based off the young adult novel of the same name by author KL Going, "Fat Kid Rules the World" follows an overweight teenager named Troy (Jacob Wysocki) who has no friends, a deceased mother, an athletic younger brother (Dylan Arnold), and a stern and stoic father (Billy Campbell). Troy ends up meeting Marcus (Matt O'Leary), a guitar player who is homeless and a drug addict. Troy and Marcus form a friendship, Marcus helping Troy come out of his shell and express himself, and Troy helping Marcus by being in a band with him, and at the end, helping him with his drug addiction.If you like movies about people in the lifespan of teenagers to young adults where they find out some stuff about themselves and become more confident or they change their life around, you will probably like this film. If you are looking for a movie to watch on a lazy rainy day, look somewhere else because this film is a bore. Five minutes of watching this film feels like thirty minutes in the real world where you are watching the movie.In a film like this, the chemistry between the two leads is what can make or break the movie. Troy and Marcus never feel like they are actually friends, but more like Marcus is being paid by someone to pretend to be Troy's friend and Troy is just following Marcus's every command without any thought on his part. The importance of the relationship to Troy is also bogged down by the addition of two additional friends (Lili Simmons and Tyler Trerise), taking away the importance because now Marcus is not Troy's only friend.None of the characters of the movie are all that interesting, with the exception of Troy's dad who is ironically the most stoic character in the whole film. When your one interesting character is the one who shows little to no emotion, you know you have a problem."Fat Kid Rules the World" does not fall to the problems as other movies based on books where they are viewed as bad for the simple reason of the movie is not as good as the book. That is still the case with "Fat Kid", but the changes made from the book to better suit the movie do not work for the movie and the movie comes across as the team behind the film were given the plot points and the basic synopsis of the novel and were told to make a movie based on it without understanding the book in the first place.

As of you Americans who do not have no clue of what a real comedy is all about: this I can't even call a movie, but a wasting of my only one and lovely life that I have. THIS IS COMPLETE, SAD, BORING DISASTER!!! One of the worst "comedies" I've ever seen!!! BECAUSE !!! IT'S NOT A COMEDTY! It's not even a movie, if you're asking me. So I recommend to all the people who are planing to watch this "movie" please read my comment carefully, you will not regret it, and in the end you'll be thankful to me.GREETINGS FROM SERBIA!P.S: It would be better if the bus had killed him at the beginning.

I just want to give it up to the first time director. a nice small inspirational movie. movies like this show that the indie film world isn't dead, thanks to all involved in the movie. I remember seeing a trailer for this movie at an independent theater and just seeing the actors involved and the story was enough to hook me. this movie hits everything from social alienation, to coming of age story. it delves into what it's like growing up on different sides of the fence. in one family you have a kid who's mother died leaving him with a military father who nows nothing about his kids. the other side of the fence shows you the drugged out punk rocker ready to cause mayhem and destruction mainly to himself. what these two character's don't realize is that their misfortunes and problems end up combining and ultimately save them. I hope to see more from the two main actors. I also hope to see more from director Matthew lillard.

Jacob Wysocki is the kind of actor where, the minute look into his soul-penetrating eyes that say more than words ever could, his sympathy begins to tug at your fragile heartstrings, and after spending an hour and a half with his character, rarely leaving the frame, you feel shaken and riveted. He's playing a character seemingly more in-tuned with life than his character in Terri, his acting debut, and in certain stretches, he appears more comfortable and confident as an actor.He gives Fat Kid Rules the World, actor Matthew Lillard's directorial debut, a powerful life and impact as he effortlessly takes the thin concept presented and makes it into a convincing, ninety-minute portrayal of an obese social pariah and his fight to gain back his confidence and motivation, at first assuming he ever had any. Wysocki plays Troy Billings, who is seen fantasizing about a grisly suicide attempt in the opening minutes of the film. When he finally attempts his tragic fate, by walking in front of a bus, he is saved at the very last second by Marcus McCray (Matt O'Leary), a homeless drug addict who is one of the leads in his underground band. One wonders why a character like this would save a defenseless fat kid from an ugly fate. Then he asks him for $20.Troy's homelife is rather grim as well; his father (Billy Campbell, whose performance will most likely be overshadowed, but is very, very wonderful) wants nothing but the best for his son, like all fathers, and for that reason, seems to give him more leniency than he should/ Troy's younger brother couldn't care less about him, and when it is revealed that their mother died, we question if this family were ever tightly bound together or if they were always coldly isolated from each other. When Troy begins prolifically hanging out with Marcus, Troy's father becomes conflicted in the sense that he is happy his boy found a friend, yet displeased with his friend's reckless, inconsequential behavior. When Marcus comes up with the spur-of-the-moment decision that him and Troy should form a rock band, with Troy on the drums, their relationship begins to become stronger and they start to understand the life the other one lives.I worried that this film would mirror too closely to Wysocki's overlooked Terri, in terms of direction, tone, and plot, but that assumption was thrown away well before the first act ended. The "Terri" character in that film seemed to be more content with being an outsider and simply just wanted to be left alone, while we can see that Troy, here, is hungering for attention and acceptance. Meeting Marcus is arguably the best or worst thing that could've happened to him, yet we are left to answer that question.The film is a little slow, but we are given much in the way of greatness in terms of writing and photography. Written by Michael M.B. Galvin and Peter Speakman, based off the K.L. Going novel of the same name, Fat Kid Rules the World, delicately paints the Troy character and the world around him, photographing it in hazy yet artful beauty, and giving him a story to tell that makes him marginally stand out from the rest. His story is not that far off from the story of Angus Bethune in another overlooked film by the name of Angus, starring Charlie Talbert as the title character, an overweight kid who simply hungered for acceptance and the feeling of not being ostracized. It is that specific quality that makes this film wholesome and understandable, and very, very unselfish.I come full circle by saying that Wysocki's performance is by far, one of the best of the year. His mind and attitude is all one hundred percent and his capability as an actor bleeds from the second he steps on screen. He rightfully achieves sympathy, and even empathy, without being heavy-handed or cliché in his performance. Not to mention, Lillard gives this material the sensitivity and honest direction it needs and deserves. I just hope that Wysocki will not find himself type-cast in the role of the hopeless obese teen and branches out to find great work, surrounded by characters who love and accept him. We all deserve that.Starring: Jacob Wysocki, Matt O"Leary, and Billy Campbell. Directed by: Matthew Lillard.