User Reviews

First Arabic movie for me, so judge this review accordingly.

Movie is light hearted, with funny incidents thrown in, though they don't work most of the times. But again, perhaps I am not culturally tuned to this form of humour. Everyone laughs a lot with lots of dramatic and over the top gesture, even when there is nothing funny going on. Still, a good overall story and decent enough comedy e.g. The drive on the way to funeral. However, the ending just ruined it. Uncle dies for no reason. Magdy suddenly decides to and manages to lose weight. Last scene on magazine opening had no meaning. He not only changes his body size but also changes his character.

"X-Large" simply refers to the biggest size in clothing, the one that oversteps the "Medium", and the meant here is the movie's lead character who is an obese young man. The movie is about that obese guy, his life, and his problems with declaring his love to the girl he loves because of his obesity. Could be a very good romantic comedy, with a new character and a message. But, sorrowfully, forget about any "good", "comedy", and "message" as well. Or, in more frank words, IT'S A TORTURE OF A MOVIE!!

Ahhhhhh, this movie is so long, overstuffed, and very weary. Obviously, the script is replete with many, MANY, things: Firstly, huge, so unfunny, dialogue. Actually, none of the cast wanted to SHUT UP! The whole actors in this movie talk, talk and talk endlessly. I swear to god, at one moment I got a headache, and to my surprise, I discovered in the end that that moment was about the movie's half! If the movie is 140 minutes long, then Ahmed Helmy talked for 150 minutes! I love Helmy, he's one of the best of his generation, however here he found nothing to make laughs with but blabbering on, with the emptiest, silliest, most forced jokes ever, to an extant that made me doubt; was it about an obese man, or a windbag?!

Secondly, so unnecessary, and worse so unfunny, side characters. The movie has something between 10 and 15 side characters. Ask yourself, why the beggar?! Why the womanizer neighbor? Why the lead's coworker who has many boyfriends?! They are so many and so bad; putting in mind that all of them had to TALK!!

Thirdly, more than enough, and - yes - so unfunny situations. E.g: Why the scene in the elevator? Why to see the lead going to buy the cakes for his uncle, then coming back? Why he has to talk in his sleep, every now and then?! Then, a point that kills me: while being a comedy, the movie has 2 deaths, and a free burying scene. It isn't a black comedy to even think about doing this, twice?? I believe the first death wasn't needed at all, or could have been replaced with any other event. As you see, this is disturbing and ridiculous after being basically superfluous!

Fourthly, is there any moral in it? Well, it's not "There is". It's "There are". Because it has a message about the negativity of being an overweight, and how getting thinner makes you healthier. And strangely it has, in the same time, another message about the importance of being yourself, since all the people, with their own differences, completes each other. So, why to get thinner and leave your own, very different, self?!! OK, you can choose one of these messages to make a movie, but to contain both of them??!! This made the whole case contradicting, and assured that this movie has "A LOT" of everything!

Director Sheriff Arafa is one of my favorites, and one of the most inventive directors in the history of the Egyptian cinema, who used to speak, if not poetize, visually in his movies. But this time, it's obvious, he was semi-mute! As a little instance, for a very rare time in an Egyptian movie, the lead character is a cartoon artist, which made me dream about new and distinct image for the movie, where "image" expresses beside "sound". However, this was done in the most limited areas. And eventually, "sound" didn't overstep "image"; it rather ate "image"! Originally, how an experienced director, such as Arafa, didn't notice anything wrong with that script, and why didn't he slaughter at least half an hour of the filmed material in the editing room?! This would have saved a graceful comedy to watch. So, with my shock in Helmy, imagine how I felt after bigger shock in Arafa too!

It's hard to be objective with a movie like this. But, as I said before, making a movie about fat guy, and cartoon artist, is kind of new in our cinema. Unlike his fat mask, with visible line on every cheek, Helmy's fat bodysuit was excellent. Ibrahim Nasr did some good acting. And.. and I'm afraid this movie doesn't give more chances to utilize my, or any, objectivity!

Pure and simple, my hatred to this movie is X-Large, my fatigue out of it is X-Large, and my disappointment in it is X-Large. It's heavy movie and no funny comedy. And with the notable names of it, it's deplorable. If its makers though that a movie about fat person should be fat itself, then they would be highly wrong!

PS: There was a religious fanatic character in the movie, named "Karm", who was being threatened all the time by his vague past. In older Sheriff Arafa movie, Al-irhab wal kabab (1993), there was a talk about unseen character, named "Karm", who used to pursue any movie with sex scene in it (he was mentioned quickly, by a character played by Mohamed Henedi). So, if you give it a little thinking, you'll know how that "Karm" lived his youth, in the limits of Arafa's cinematic realm.