In the past few years, there have been several films telling women
that it's okay to be overweight, and that they needn't aspire to
be as insect-thin as magazine models to be happy.

These films, like Lovely And Amazing and Real Women
Have Curves, were hits at various film festivals, though they
were never shown in Singapore.

Secret Society makes up for this — but only just.
Celebrating the glory of female fat, this British film stars Charlotte
Brittain as a plus-sized housewife whose husband loses his low-end
job, forcing her to find work at a factory.

Soon, she notices that all the large women workers have a special
bond between them because they belong to a secret society of female
sumo wrestlers. Charlotte joins the group and finds her entire life
and self-image change for the better.

Secret Society should be commended for putting across
a positive, self-accepting image for big women. But the film is
full of cliches and sentimentality, such that it never rises above
the level of a mediocre TV movie. Though the film professes to be
a comedy, its laughs are few and far between.