Pillow Talk offers a heartwarming and unique riff on Whip It–style girl power with the story of a fictional sports league, the Pillow Fight Federation (PFF). At its heart is Grace Mendes, a college student who signs up for PFF’s “fresh meat” open call for new fighters, and ends up fighting for the championship.

It’s the classic sports underdog story: Grace starts out shy and insecure, but then discovers her inner badass while pillow fighting. As a plus-size woman, this reviewer appreciates that Grace’s lack of confidence isn’t just about her body type. Though Grace feels unattractive in comparison to her best friend Callie Sun, who is thin, it is made clear that Callie is popular because she is confident and extroverted and not simply because of how she looks.

When PFF fighters first enter the ring, it’s to demonstrate the rules for the audience at a fight. So, when they later come out as their “fightsonas” to compete, their mutual respect and professionalism are already established. The fighters later band together to help Grace through a tough time, highlighting the genuine friendship beyond their collegiality.

Illustration: Mel Valentine Vargas.

A nice change from many similar stories of self-discovery is that Grace does not need to shed everyone in her past; Callie plays just as prominent a role in Grace’s life after Grace joins the PFF as before. She helps Grace train, uses her marketing know-how to boost Grace’s fight career, and even finds her own place within the PFF circle.

Not surprisingly, there are online trolls who deride the fighters’ looks and fightsonas, and argue that pillow fighting should be “sexier.” While characters address this in dialogue, even more powerful is how the diversity of their body types, sexualities, and genders matters so little to the story. For example, plus-size and petite fighters alike headline PFF events, and their size difference is a non-issue in the ring.

The first rule of PFF is to have fun, and this joyful exuberance radiates from the page. PFF leans into the inherent silliness of the sport with pun-nerrific fighter names such as Cinderhella (inspired by Grace’s “evil stepmother”) and Killeesi (a tribute to “the feral mother of cats, Khatleesi”). The fights, while not scripted, are more in common with theatrical professional wrestling than no-holds-barred mixed martial arts, and consent and safety are paramount. After all, whether hero or heel, all fighters are part of the PFF circle, and they always have room for one more.