The Hobbit

There’ve been great masses of critical laurels laid at Alexander Payne’s door over the years, some, in our eyes, more earned than others. When it really hits home, the director’s quiet humanism and wry humor can yield perceptive insights, especially into certain trademark areas of expertise: family dynamics, the vanities and follies of aging men, the reluctance to let go of old dreams. But the downside to this kind of blanket approbation is that, because we know what to look for in an Alexander Payne movie, sometimes we might kid ourselves that we find things that aren’t really there. And so, we come trundling to ‘Nebraska,’ already being buzzed about as a major player here in Cannes, and certainly not a bad film in any way, but one that failed to engage us with anything like the kind of witty perceptiveness we found in, for example, “Sideways,” to reference the other two-man road trip-style film of Payne’s. A journey whose destination is clearly signposted from the very beginning,...

For one man, stepping on the scales is more than a mere weight matter. Tipping the scales at a staggering 900 pounds, Ricky Naputi is embroiled in a desperate battle to shed weight in order to save his life, and OKMagazine.com has a video clip of his battle of the bulge. For the past five years, the 39-year-old has been a prisoner in his own home, trapped in his bed, unable to even to raise himself up to walk around. PHOTOS: BIGGEST CELEBRITY WEIGHT LOSS STORIES IN PICTURES Ricky and his wife, Cheryl, live on the island of Guam where there is no access to the type of weight loss surgery he needs if he has any hopes of surviving into old age. In a last ditch effort to get help, Ricky finds Angie Flores on the internet—a former weight loss surgery patient herself, Angie now campaigns for patients like Ricky to get treatment. Flores agrees to help Ricky find a way of getting to America to have the operation, but in order to qualify he must lose weight first.    OK! NEWS: PAULA DEEN RESPONDS TO ANTHONY BOURDAIN'S CRITICISM   TLC has followed Ricky during his nearly three-year-long battle to find a surgeon willing to take on his case and a way off the island of Guam to get the potentially lifesaving surgery he desperately needs—and the results air in a special program, 900 Pound Man, Race Against Time.   In a preview clip, Ricky is seen meeting with Dr. Vong to access how his weight loss is going (he has been ordered to slim down to 600 pounds in order to undergo surgery) but the weigh in does not go well.   KHLOE KARDASHIAN REVEALS WHAT SHE'S BEEN DOING TO GER HER NEW SEXY, SLIMMED DOWN BODY   "I'm feeling nervous about seeing [the doctor] today," Ricky says. "Because I actually should have been losing some weight."   Ricky is not the only nervous person in the house, Cheryl is also apprehensive about her husband's weigh in.   "I'm going to get scolded," Cheryl says. "No matter how much I try I tend to always give in to my husband—and it's really hard because my husband wears the pants in this relationship."   POPULAR WEIGHT LOSS DIETS FOR 2013   Meanwhile Ricky shares what he hopes the outcome of the meeting will be.   "My hope for today, for this meeting, is to hear the doctor say we can go through with this," he says. "That we can do the surgery. And we can prepare me for the journey to come.   "I'm going to try my best and my one goal, and my one goal only, is to get my life back."   HEALTHY EATS! PREPARE YOUR HOME FOR WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS   Unfortunately though, Ricky suffers a setback when his trip onto the scales reveals he has not lost anywhere near the 100 pounds he was ordered to shed—in fact he appears to have not drop a single pound.   Tune in to TLC on Wednesday May 22 at 10/9 central to watch the first installment of 900 Pound Man, Race Against Time.   Do you have any diet advice for Ricky to help shed the weight he needs to lose in order to undergo surgery? Sound off in comments below and tweet us @OKMagazine       Photo credit:  TLC