Bullying storyline predictable but has its moments

tendency makes Mom suspect, or superficial in terms of priorities.

The filmmaking seems caught between a genuine desire to present life as it’s actually lived and a self-imposed obligation to be politically correct at all times. Even so, the filmmakers occasionally manage to craft scenes that have the ring of truth.

Just as often, though, we’ll get a sequence like the one in which a bunch of gay male Dolly Parton impersonators come to our heroine’s emotional rescue.

Aniston, as is often the case, is better than the movie deserves, taking a borderline caricature and investing in its life history, giving her scenes extra meaning and depth.

Macdonald, too, is very good, lending a matter-of-fact attitude to a role that could have been defined solely by grief and self-pity.

Maybe we’re going to have to endure wellmeaning but preachy and tiresome movies such as “Dumplin’” until it simply becomes normal for an obese person to appear on screen without being defined entirely in terms of weight.

Perhaps in five or 10 years, Macdonald will be in a movie that’s not about how painful it is or how wonderful it is or how sexy and glorious it is to be heavy. Someday, perhaps, the actress will be able to play a character who happens to look a certain way, and yet have the movie be about something else entirely.