Piggy tells the story of an overweight teen girl who is ruthlessly mocked by her bullies and constantly judged – whether cruelly or dismissively – by the adults in her life. When she sees a couple of her bullies kidnapped by a serial killer, she is unsure what to do… and what she wants to do.

I was hot and cold and hot with this bloody tale of casual cruelty and revenge. The lead actress is putting in a performance many will call courageous or vulnerable… and, yeah, it must have taken a lot out of this legitimately overweight actress to be this exposed for this long. And to put up with the other actors saying awful things to her as part of the job (
(it’s easy to internalize even when it’s pretend).

But part of me also wondered if this wasn’t exploitation. I’m going to go with no, that it’s an earnest attempt to analyze the psyche of this put-upon girl. But it teeters on the edge.

I found some of the plot a little too overstuffed with events and scenes that maybe were just padding out the runtime. I’d go from engaged to disengaged far too easily throughout the film due to its pacing.

The finale… well, part of me reached into that cold hearted pit that wanted to see gleeful, raw, bloody revenge and then the other part reminded me I’m not an awful person. So I was back and forth on how this flick should end and I consider that a net positive. Will this be a brutal revenge flick or a white knight saves the day narrative? I’m not sure I was satisfied with the answer.

This is a pretty good, very bloody French flick that casts an unusual net. This isn’t a “fat” actor who is really a normal body size, this is an actual obese actress and that takes two doses of courage and maybe a half dose of exploitation to play. It’s an uneven film but it’s also doing something different and I give it credit for that.

Score: 79