''Bigger'' (styled as ''Bigger: The Joe Weider Story'') is a 2018 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

by director

George Gallo George Gallo Jr. (born January 1, 1956) is an American screenwriter, film director, producer, painter and musician. He is known for writing ''Midnight Run'' and '' 29th Street'', and is an accomplished painter in the style of the Pennsylvania ...

about the life of real life bodybuilders

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

and

Ben Weider Benjamin Weider, (1 February 1923 – 17 October 2008) was a Canadian soldier, author, historian (Napoleonic history), fitness proponent, benefactor of the arts, and entrepreneur. He co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFB ...

Premise

Brothers Joe and Ben Weider were the architects of Muscle. Against all odds, they launched an empire. Along the way they discovered Arnold Schwarzenegger, inspired female empowerment, championed diversity, and started a movement that changed the world of bodybuilding in the United States.

Cast

Tyler Hoechlin Tyler Lee Hoechlin (; born September 11, 1987) is an American actor. Initially earning recognition for starring as Michael Sullivan Jr. in the 2002 film ''Road to Perdition'', Hoechlin went on to star as Martin Brewer on '' 7th Heaven'' between ...

Joe Weider Joseph Weider (; November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of Mr. Olympia, Ms. O ...

* Aneurin Barnard as

Julianne Hough Julianne Alexandra Hough (; born July 20, 1988) is an American dancer, actress, and singer. In 2007, she joined the cast of ABC's ''Dancing with the Stars'' as a professional dancer, winning two seasons with her celebrity partners. After leavin ...

as Betty Weider * Victoria Justice as Huguette "Kathy" Weider (Based on Hedwiges "Vicky" Uzar) *

Steve Guttenberg Steven Robert Guttenberg (born August 24, 1958) is an American actor, author, businessman, producer, and director. He is known for his lead roles in Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s, including ''Cocoon'', ''Police Academy'', ''Three Men and ...

as Louis Weider *

DJ Qualls Donald Joseph Qualls (born June 10, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in films including ''Road Trip'' (2000), ''The New Guy'' (2002) and '' The Core'' (2003), and for several appearances on television series such as ''B ...

as Michael Steere *

Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to: * Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor * Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide * Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer * Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), ...

as Roy Hawkins * Calum Von Moger as Arnold Schwarzenegger *

Colton Haynes Colton Lee Haynes (born July 13, 1988) is an American actor and model. He is known for his starring role as Jackson Whittemore in the MTV supernatural drama series ''Teen Wolf'' and as Roy Harper / Arsenal in the CW superhero television seri ...

Jack LaLanne Francois Henri LaLanne (; September 26, 1914 – January 23, 2011) was an American fitness and nutrition guru and motivational speaker. He described himself as being a "sugarholic" and a "junk food junkie" until he was aged 15. He also had behav ...

Max Martini Maximilian Carlo Martini (born December 11, 1969) is an American actor, writer, and director known for his roles as Corporal Fred Henderson in '' Saving Private Ryan'', Wiley in '' Level 9'', First Sergeant Sid Wojo in '' The Great Raid'', and a ...

as Jerry George *

Kevin Durand Kevin Serge Durand (born January 14, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Vasiliy Fet in ''The Strain'', Joshua in '' Dark Angel'', Martin Keamy in ''Lost'', Fred J. Dukes / The Blob in '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', Barry ...

as Bill Hauk (Based on Bob Hoffman) *

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...

as Joe Weider in 2008 * Stan De Longeaux as Claude Regine * James Adam Madsen Jr. as Bill Pearl * Sergio Oliva Jr. as Sergio Oliva Sr.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Michael Rechtshaffen of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote: "Without a sturdier script featuring fully dimensional characters... the performances prove to be as unconvincing as their ethnic accents and period wigs."

References

External links

* 2018 films 2010s English-language films 2018 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Bodybuilding films Cultural depictions of Arnold Schwarzenegger Films directed by George Gallo Films scored by Jeff Beal 2010s American films {{2010s-comedy-drama-film-stub