To Be Fat Like Me 2007

Aly [Kaley Cuoco] is beautiful, popular, and athletic, a high-energy force who has built her future around softball and a hard-won scholarship that could take her to college. She lives a fast-paced, on-the-go life and is determined to stay healthy and fit, a mission sharpened by her mother’s long history of weight issues and lifelong battles with depression. When an opposing player accidentally steps on her knee during a game, the injury endangers that scholarship and forces Aly to confront the possibility that she may need to find another way to finance her education.

The story digs into why Aly is so driven to control every aspect of her health: her mother once faced serious health costs tied to weight, and the money set aside for Aly’s college fund was diverted to treat the illness, a decision Aly has never forgiven. She also openly scorns the family’s high-fat diet and lack of consistent exercise, to the point where she won’t even eat a cake her mother buys for her. The rift between them runs deep, fueling Aly’s sense of urgency to prove herself and secure a path forward.

To raise money quickly, Aly enters a documentary contest with a substantial cash prize. Believing that personality can outshine appearance, she devises a drastic plan: she will go undercover, donning a fat suit and facial prosthetics to appear overweight and less attractive, while using a hidden camera to document her experiences at school in an effort to show how much judgment is tied to looks. The project becomes a reckoning about authenticity, identity, and the power of perception.

As the disguise pulls her into a world she’s never inhabited, Aly discovers how harsh the life of the overweight can be. She is shunned and mistreated by peers, despite her intent to stay kind and true to the person she always was. In the course of this exploration, she meets Ramona [Melissa Halstrom], an overweight classmate who opens up about her own life and challenges. The two form a connection, but the alliance is tested when Ramona discovers Aly’s true identity and learns that their private conversations have been recorded for the documentary.

Aly titles the project Fat Like Me, a bold reference to John Howard Griffin’s 1961 book Black Like Me, signaling a confrontation with how society treats people based on appearance. The experience forces Aly to reckon with her choices and the consequences of deception.

The climax unfolds at a house party where Aly, still in disguise, wants to see whether the same “friends” who praised her looks when she was presumed attractive will treat her with the same respect when she is visible as fat. The moment of unmasking is cathartic, as she reveals the truth to everyone. In the aftermath, she begins to repair the relationship with her mother—now able to hear her without judgment—and she confides in Ramona, telling her that she plans to quit the contest. Yet Ramona challenges her to persevere, arguing that if Aly truly wants to make amends for her deception, she should win. The two also hint at the possibility of a genuine friendship forming in time, beyond appearances and judgments.