Product Code Database
Heavyweights is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Steven Brill and written by Brill with Judd Apatow. It stars Tom McGowan, Aaron Schwartz, Shaun Weiss, Tom Hodges, Leah Lail, Paul Feig, Kenan Thompson, David Bowe, Max Goldblatt, Robert Zalkind, Patrick LaBrecque, Jeffrey Tambor, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, and Ben Stiller (in a dual role), and follows a fat camp for kids that is taken over by a fitness entrepreneur as its campers work to overthrow him.
The film was released on February 17, 1995. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, only making $17.7 million on a $10 million budget. Though it was initially met with mixed reviews, it found a following on home video and cable TV airings and has since become a cult film.
Tony replaces the camp’s beloved activities, including and “blobbing”, with a punishing exercise regimen. Pat is replaced by the strict new counselor Lars and the campers endure a painful softball game against their more athletic, over-competitive rivals Camp MVP. When Tony purges the cabins' hidden food caches, camper Josh stands up for Gerry by taunting Tony and is sent home without a refund. Tony arranges a dance with the girls' summer camp named Camp Magnolia to humiliate the boys into losing weight, but counselors Tim, Pat, and camp nurse Julie convince everyone to enjoy themselves together. Josh returns to Camp Hope revealing that his lawyer father has threatened to sue Tony for kicking his son out without a refund.
Gerry and his friends sneak into Tony's office in search of their confiscated snacks, and learn that Tony has intercepted all the campers’ letters to their families, including a letter that Gerry wrote to his grandmother. They discover a secret food stash used by most of the camp, leading them to gain weight, and Tony forces the boys on a 20-mile hike, preparing to endanger their lives for the sake of fitness. The boys trick Tony into falling into a pit and imprison him at camp in a makeshift cell, electrified with a bug zapper. With Pat, Julie, and Tim on their side, the campers take back control of Camp Hope, tying up Lars in the woods with Tony's other counselors, and celebrating with a binge eating bonfire party. Lars ultimately sides with the campers due to threats of deportation.
The next morning, Pat rallies the campers to take responsibility for themselves and start losing weight and they all start a healthier regimen while making Camp Hope fun again. The boys' parents arrive for visiting day and are shown a video documenting Tony's cruelty, which is interrupted by Tony, having escaped his cell. Exchanging blows with Gerry's father, he attempts a series of backflips but knocks himself out. As Tony is taken away, Tony Perkis Sr. arrives and promises to refund everyone’s money, but announces that the camp will be closed. The boys ask for the camp to stay open. Pat – with 18 years' experience and the support of Gerry and the others – agrees to assume responsibility for Camp Hope, which Tony Sr. allows.
Under Pat's leadership, the campers restore their favorite activities, and prepare to face Camp MVP in their annual competition. Camp MVP takes the lead in the first event, an obstacle course, but Camp Hope catches up in the second round, a test of knowledge. In the final go-kart race, Gerry wins the competition for Camp Hope. Demonstrating that having fun is more important than winning, Pat throws the trophy in the lake and seals his romance with Julie with a kiss. As Camp Hope celebrates their victory, Gerry thanks Pat for the best summer of his life.
During the credits, Pat, the campers, and Lars sing the "Camp Hope" song.
In a post-credits scene, Tony is now an unsuccessful door-to-door salesman selling Crystal healing.
| BoDeans |
| Chic |
| The Bay City Rollers |
| Hot Chocolate |
| The Miracles |
| Crescent City Gold |
| The Stone Coyotes |
| Bow Wow Wow |
| Paul Feig and The Camp Hope Kids |
According to Stephen Holden of The New York Times, " Heavyweights is really two movies in one, and they don't mesh. One movie is a no-holds-barred spoof of a Tony Little- or Susan Powter-style fitness merchant ... The other movie is a conventional family comedy that pokes lighthearted fun at the chubby young campers." In a positive review, Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote, "Make no mistake about it, Disney's 'Heavyweights' is the best movie about calorically challenged pubescent boys at summer camp ever made. Bar none."
In 2012, on the release of the Blu-ray, critic Brian Ordorff gave the film a grade of "B" and wrote: "Time has been kind to the discarded fat camp movie, finding Heavyweights more digestible these days, after years spent processing the askew sense of humor shared by Apatow and Company."
Rapper MC Lars has stated he took his stage name from the character Lars in Heavyweights, a further example of the film’s cult legacy.
|
|
