Phat Beach is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Doug Ellin, which stars Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins, Coolio, Brian Hooks and Gregg Vance.

"[3] Benny King, an overweight, self-conscious teen in Bakersfield, California, faces the prospect of a dismal summer when his father Carl pushes him to get a job at a hamburger joint.

Benny begrudgingly takes on the job, but continues to daydream about Candace, the girl of his dreams, and gets sidetracked by his hormonal friend Durrel Jackson.

"[8] In contrast, Amy Wu of the Chicago Tribune gave a positive review and wrote, "Phat Beach is a fun movie, and that's all it's meant to be.

[9] The Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas felt the film is familiar at points, but praised the comedic chemistry between Hopkins and Hooks, in addition to the soundtrack.

[10] Stephen Gaydos of Variety gave a more mixed review, writing, "Cooked up for young fans of the House Party comedies and the Wayans brothers' raucous outings, Phat's bite on the genre is too bland and its gags too warmed-over to satisfy the hunger of its targeted auds.

"[4] Though he felt Coolio's appearance was too brief, he concluded, "First-time helmer Doug Ellin deserves credit for steering the sub-par script without resorting to MTV-style visual gimmicks, which only would have made the situation more derivative than it already is.