Reader, Macdonald got the movie. Hitting Netflix today, Dumplin’ is joyous and uplifting, a film about learning to love yourself, and Macdonald is its brilliant heart. As Willowdean Opal – or Dumplin’, as her mother Rosie (Aniston) insists on calling her – Macdonald is the heroine every plus-size girl wishes they had growing up. Part blistering confidence, part heartbreaking insecurities, she’s a ray of sunshine whenever she’s onscreen. In short: she’s a teenage girl.

“I just fell in love with Will,” Macdonald says, “because she reminded me of who I was as a teenager. Everyone goes through that time in their life when they’re trying to figure out who they are find their own purpose and their own way. I wanted to do this movie for my 16-year-old self.”

At the heart of the movie is the thorny relationship between Willowdean and her mother. Rosie, a Texan beauty queen and former Miss Teen Bluebonnet who, magnificently mascaraed and hair lacquered to high heaven runs the pageant to this day. Rosie loves her daughter but struggles to get through to her. Willowdean was always closer to her aunt Lucy, a big-hearted Dolly Parton fan who taught Willowdean that anything is possible.

Rosie, on the other hand, is a realist. She points out the spots on Willowdean’s face and tells her not to eat the greasy food at the diner she works at after school. “I know what this world is like for big girls,” Rosie says, pity crumpling across Aniston’s face.

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