Patti Cake$

Geremy Jasper's musical dramedy, about an overweight white New Jersey woman who wants to be a rapper, tries hard to be edgy, but ultimately proves to be a surprisingly conventional and rather bland movie about chasing one's dreams. The title character is Patricia Dombrowski (Danielle Macdonald), a chubby hip-hop devotee who lives in lower-class squalor with her slatternly, one-time singer mother Barb (Bridget Everett). Called Dumbo by her street nemesis—a pizza-guy-drug-dealer with rapper pretensions of his own—Patti works with her pal Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay), a clerk at the neighborhood pharmacy, and a singer named Basterd (Mamoudou Athie), who is a brooding loner calling himself Antichrist, to make a demo CD that she hopes will be the key to her success. Patti Cake$ has its heart in the right place, and the cast is likable, with Macdonald earning a good deal of sympathy for her character's plight. And filmmaker Jasper's background in music videos definitely helps bring the musical numbers to life. Despite its virtues, however, the movie is more formulaic than it pretends to be. Still, it has enough going for it—especially Macdonald—to be worth a look. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Geremy Jasper, “A Slice of Cake$” making-of featurette (22 min.), the behind-the-scenes segments “Making the Music” (2 min.), “Danielle as Patti” (2 min.), “Geremy” (2 min.), and “Jersey Women” (2 min.), the “Patti $ea$on” music video (3 min.), a lyric video (2 min.), and a photo gallery. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an often engaging if also somewhat predictable film.] (F. Swietek)