The title character may be morbidly obese, but the jokes and story are thin in the coming-of-age dramedy “Fat Kid Rules the World.”
Jacob Wysocki plays the title role of a lonely high-school student. In one of those only-in-the-movies meet-cutes, he is attempting suicide when he becomes unlikely friends with a hipster musician (Matt O’Leary).
Personal growth ensues through contrived scenes of the plus-size boy becoming a rock drummer and even learning to chat with cute girls while dealing with a depressing home life (Mom is dead and — true horror here — Dad is an ex-Marine) and his punk pal’s psychological problems.
Directed by journeyman actor Matthew Lillard, this tame and by-the-numbers effort never succeeds in making the outcast situation cinematic or interesting.