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Movie Info
Gerry (Aaron Schwartz) is not looking forward to his summer vacation, since he'll be spending it at a camp for overweight boys in order to shed pounds. Fortunately, a kindly couple, the Bushkins (Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara), run the camp and make the process fun and relaxed. However, they're soon forced to declare bankruptcy and sell the camp to Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller), a fitness fanatic who turns the camp into a living nightmare of over-the-top training. But the kids plan to fight back.
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Rating: PG (Some Rude Language|Pranks)
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Genre: Kids & family, Comedy
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Original Language: English
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Director: Steven Brill
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Producer: Joe Roth, Roger Birnbaum
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Writer: Judd Apatow
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $17.7M
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures
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Production Co: Walt Disney Pictures
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Sound Mix: Surround
Cast & Crew
News & Interviews for Heavyweights
Critic Reviews for Heavyweights
Audience Reviews for Heavyweights
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Is it just me or does Ben Stiller's character in this movie remind me of his character in Dodgeball? He's obviously dumber in Dodgeball than he is here, but, essentially, they're somewhat the same character. Fitness freaks who obsess about their image. I don't have a problem with that, since I found Ben Stiller to be entertaining in this role as well as in Dodgeball. Obviously, his character is way over the top in both movies and that definitely adds to the entertainment factor. With that said, as far as this movie goes, time has definitely been kinder to this than I probably would have anticipated. Not trying to say that it's good but, given what this film was about, I expected it to be considerably worse than what it actually was. I knew beforehand this is a movie that Judd Apatow co-wrote with Steven Brill (who also directed). So maybe that played a part in my open-mindedness towards it. There's some obvious inspired bits in the movie, which I'd like to attribute to Judd, but I wouldn't actually know which bits were his and which were Steve's. But, if I'm being honest, this movie just isn't anything more than just OK at worst and average at best. And that's really the most difficult thing about this review so far. Deciding whether to give it 2 or 2.5 stars. Part of me feels that this is a better movie than 2 stars, but when I go for 2.5 it also seems too high. I guess we'll see as the review goes on. I think part of the problem with this is the fact that it wants to be a spoof of fitness gurus, but, to me, in order to really go all out with that concept, the jokes would have to be far more mean-spirited than they were here. And I'm not saying I would necessarily agree with that mean-spirited approach, but it needed that edge that was necessary for it to feel like it was actually spoofing these obsessive fitness gurus. But, the fact of the matter is, that this movie being released under Disney's umbrella, that was gonna be impossible, so this is what we got. That's not to say they don't get some humor out of it, but the family friendly approach to characters and the fat camp pretty much put the kibosh on the edgy humor. Part of me was disappointed in the fact that the character of Lars didn't get a bigger role in the proceedings. He was the only character who consistently entertained me and it was a shame that he didn't get more screen time. Again, the character is absurd and over-the-top, but Tom Hodges' performance made it fun. The story is pretty basic. These kids go to a fat camp that's actually pretty fun, but when the owners are forced to sell the camp to Tony Perkis, the guru, he turns it into a way to sell an infomercial video. His demands are strict and he withholds meals from the kids if they don't achieve the goals he sets for them. So the kids decide to fight back and take back the camp. Fairly simple, straightforward stuff in all honesty. But the film has a light, sorry for the pun, tone which certainly helps in making the film seem slightly more enjoyable than it is. Like I said earlier, this isn't a bad movie at all. It's just one that has some limitations place upon it because of it being released under the Disney umbrella, but it's not a bad movie in the slightest. And, as I also said, time has been kind to this movie. I can imagine seeing this movie in 95 and I probably would have not enjoyed it in the slightest. Honestly, I feel comfortable giving this 2.5 stars. It's likely that I'm being way too considerate, but I didn't hate this at all. And parts of me, in spite of its silliness and its inconsistent comedic tone, enjoyed it as something goofy. I can't recommend it, but I didn't hate this movie at all. Average at best.
jesse o Super Reviewer -
The critics hate Steven Brill as much as filmmakers hate critics. This film is full of the 90s actors that filled those roles in other films but they created high concept ideas. Heavyweights falls to the side with a lot of clichà (C) disney family storytelling but it's the first and second third that stop this from being overly boring. Ben Stiller is the saving grace of the film, a role he essentially repeated for Dodge ball. Disney tried some out there concepts and this is one of them, it's a shame it never struck a cord with audiences because this is a good film. The conventional happy ending is tiresome but another studio might have stopped that, Disney must have family moments. This is a cult film from my kid hood which I just rewatched with my niece, still holds up. 27-05-2017.
brendan n Super Reviewer -
This has got to be one of the worst ideas for a comedy that I've seen. The film should be a good comedy, but instead it just falls flat because to me it seemed to use the fat stereotypes a bit too much to create its humor. Thus, the film really didn't work, and ended up being pretty bad. This could have been a great film, but the script was too flawed, the acting was bad and the directing was unfocused. I think this film had potential of being very funny, but more than times than not, it fails to deliver laughter. Director Steven Brill can't seem to direct a good film, and Heavyweights is just an awful mess that actually could have been avoided. If the script was better, the cast was good and the director was more skilled, then maybe the film would have been better. There were just too many bad things going on on-screen to make this one worthy of seeing. In the long run, the film is very forgettable and is not worth seeing. There are too many areas where the comedy fails at making you laugh, and it's a film that simply doesn't work overall. I hated the film, and is one of the worst films I had to watch. There are far better comedies out there than Heavyweights. This film just fails at giving you good entertainment. The film is bad because it uses stereotypes constantly in a form of humor that just isn't funny. Avoid Heavyweights, this film is bad. The film is one poor comedy that simply isn't funny.
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Insanely nostalgic. Tony Perkis and Lars are two of the greatest cult comedy characters of all-time! If you want to see Ben Stiller at his most over-the-top hilarious level, give this a look. And if you're a 90s kid, I'm sure you remember this film, too. If not, watch it now!
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