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Heavy

Play trailer Poster for Heavy R 1995 1h 45m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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87% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 66% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A shy, overweight pizza maker (Pruitt Taylor Vince) likes a teenage waitress (Liv Tyler) at his mother's (Shelley Winters) roadside tavern.
Heavy

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Critics Consensus

With Pruitt Taylor Vince's naturalistic performance and sympathetic direction from James Mangold, Heavy soars as an affecting exploration of loneliness.

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Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader The performances are strong (my favorite is that of Deborah Harry as an older waitress) and the sense of eroded as well as barely articulated lives is palpable. Jun 14, 2022 Full Review Brian Tallerico UGO Rated: 3/5 Mar 24, 2007 Full Review Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times A small, quiet miracle of a movie in which tenderness, compassion and insight combine to create a tension that yields a quality of perception that's almost painful to experience. Rated: 4/5 Feb 14, 2001 Full Review Mike Davies Birmingham Post Avoiding sentimentality and defying expectations, Mangold evokes a subdued brooding atmosphere, weaving a poignant rites of passage tale of wounded lives reaching out for but desperately afraid of change. Dec 20, 2023 Full Review Michael Atkinson Spin Super-real, uncompromised, and blazingly homely, Heavy is a movie covered with honest work blisters -- nothing interests first-time writer/ director James Mangold quite as much as simply watching an ordinary person do their job. Apr 19, 2022 Full Review Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault The movie has a kind of elegance, but it's a very long sit. Rated: C Apr 9, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (72) audience reviews
Jesse B Horrible movie. I truly wish I could erase it from my memory. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 12/17/23 Full Review Martin B An example of terrific casting. Deborah Harry was perfectly cast as the worn down mature woman looking for love but looking in all the wrong places. Under stated for sure but vivid and raw. A simple story about people interacting but not connecting each with their shields up for defense. Most watching could empathize with some element of one of the characters. The pros rate it high no doubt based on quality. The audience not as enthusiastic and you can see why. No murders, no action, no chase scenes, huge stars or high drama. More an introspective persons type of movie in the old school tradition. Watched it right through and was bored for a minute. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/28/23 Full Review Steve D I found it lame and condescending. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review georgan g A dramatic story well written & acted, especially by Pruitt Taylor Vince. We learn who each of the characters truly are and what the main character is about to become. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie is quietly stunning with beautiful performances portraying kindness and compassion. Acting is phenomenal, and I think it was ahead of its time. I never watched it when it was released so I'm just now enjoying it. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Spoilers: Liv is luminously sweet, she of the coming of age, what's it all about Alfie. Debbie is a real beauty and plays a rough waitress, digging in on her turf and suspicious of Liv and others, as she loves men's attention enough to give herself indiscriminately. Shelley, the old pro, who usually plays a firecracker with a mouth as here. But the gem is Vince, who if anyone in the world was, was made for this role. This is: a man does not live by bread alone and being a short-order cook at Mom's bar-and-eat, but needs some form of love and fulfillment. He's a nice guy to people, quiet, something of a stunted child in a man's body surrounded in his room by baseball cards and a famous poster of Farrah Fawcett. I would have rated this higher but it seemed to drag in spots, though it wasn't that long a movie. Vince is letting his conception of himself, as an overweight, heading for middle age shlub, in a going nowhere job and lifestyle, color his conception of how others see him. Others-oriented Liv saw a wonderful guy and made him feel great by just "seeing" him; his crush on her and fear of hurting her made him lie to her about how he got a photo of her hanging on his home refrigerator. He and mom live in a rundown house beside a rundown tractor-trailer, a haunting remnant of an absent father. He's too nice to others to be the noble savage. But he sees change in the air, as he starts trying to lose weight and on the human race's proclivity for finding and seizing and giving love. Mom dies, and he shuts down so much, not wanting overall things to change out of fear, that he doesn't tell the bar players she is gone. At the end, he looks cleaned up, a bit slimmer and flirting with the cashier where he always buys his food, as Liv has moved on and an impossible jointure with her remains just a dream, though he is OK with that. This has the big enchalada in it: Who are we, what should we be doing, can we thrive without some form of love fulfillment? This applies to kings, presidents, princesses and this assortment of lower socio-economic sorts struggling with how to get through the day not just with a meal and a drink, but also with a smile. The cute little dog gets 5 stars for being seemingly more anticipatory and wise than the people! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Heavy

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A shy, overweight pizza maker (Pruitt Taylor Vince) likes a teenage waitress (Liv Tyler) at his mother's (Shelley Winters) roadside tavern.
Director
James Mangold
Producer
Dick Miller, Richard Miller
Screenwriter
James Mangold
Production Co
Available Light Productions
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 5, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$985.7K
Runtime
1h 45m
Sound Mix
Surround