''Heavyweights'' is a 1995 American

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Steven Brill and written by Brill with

Judd Apatow Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films ' ...

. The film follows a

fat camp In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple e ...

for kids that is taken over by a fitness

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

named Tony Perkis (

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...

Plot

When school ends for the summer, Gerry Garner’s parents send him to Camp Hope, a

weight loss Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, by a mean loss of fluid, body fat ( adipose tissue), or lean mass (namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other co ...

camp for boys. Initially reluctant, Gerry meets enthusiastic camp counselor Pat, and befriends the other campers, who have smuggled in enough

junk food "Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly also sodium, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known as ...

for the entire summer. The first night at Camp Hope brings the revelation that the original owners, the Bushkins, have declared bankruptcy and the camp has been bought by fitness entrepreneur Tony Perkis Jr, who plans to transform the camp’s weight loss program into a best-selling infomercial. Tony replaces the camp’s beloved activities, including

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance racing ...

s and ”the Blob”, with a punishing exercise regimen. Pat is replaced by the strict new counselor Lars, and the campers endure a painful

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

game against their more athletic, over-competitive rivals, Camp

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. When Tony purges the cabins’ hidden food caches, camper Josh stands up for Gerry by taunting Tony, and is sent home without a refund, which prompts the other campers to theorize about what happened to Josh after this. Tony arranges a dance with Camp Magnolia, a girls’ summer camp, 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 father, a lawyer, 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 the 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 twenty-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 A bug zapper, more formally called an electrical discharge insect control system, electric insect killer or (insect) electrocutor trap, is a device that attracts and kills flying insects that are attracted by light. A light source attracts insect ...

. 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 Binge eating is a pattern of disordered eating which consists of episodes of uncontrollable eating. It is a common symptom of eating disorders such as binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa. During such binges, a person rapidly consumes an ex ...

bonfire party. Tony's counselors, who are foreign, ultimately side 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, his own father (a

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

lamp store guru whose fortune Tony uses to buy and fund the camp) 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, and Pat – with eighteen years’ experience and the support of Gerry and the others – agrees to assume responsibility for Camp Hope. 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. In a

post-credits scene A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...

, Tony has become an unsuccessful door-to-door salesman selling healing crystals.

Cast

* Aaron Schwartz as Gerald "Gerry" Garner *

as Tony Perkis Jr. / Tony Perkis Sr., Tony's father *

Tom McGowan Thomas McGowan (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He first became known for his stage career both on and off Broadway. In 1991, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in ...

as Patrick "Pat" Finley *

Tim Blake Nelson Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright. Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in '' Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pend ...

as Roger Johnson *

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

as Maury Garner *

Joseph Wayne Miller Joseph Wayne Miller (Park Ridge, Illinois, December 18, 1981 - Chicago, January 9, 2018) was an American actor, known for his appearance in the film '' Heavyweights'' where he played Salami Sam. He died in his sleep on January 9, 2018. He was 36 w ...

as Samuel "Salami Sam" Dampier *

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015 ...

as Harvey Bushkin *

Anne Meara Anne Meara Stiller (September 20, 1929 – May 23, 2015) was an American actress and comedian. Along with her husband Jerry Stiller, she was one-half of the prominent 1960s comedy team Stiller and Meara. Their son is actor, director, and producer ...

as Alice Bushkin *

Shaun Weiss Shaun Herman Weiss (born August 27, 1978) is an American actor, well known for his roles in '' The Mighty Ducks'' movies. Early life Weiss was born and raised in Montvale, New Jersey, and attended Pascack Hills High School. He is of Jewish de ...

as Josh Birnbaum *

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also t ...

as Roy Murphy * David Bowe as Chris Donnelly *

Leah Lail Leah Lail is a retired American actress, best known for her role as Kay Simmons the communications and systems expert on the syndicated television series ''V.I.P. (American TV series), V.I.P.''. Early life Lail graduated summa cum laude from th ...

as Julie Belcher *

Paul Feig Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including '' Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), '' Spy'' (20 ...

as Tim Orford * Tom Hodges as Lars * Max Goldblatt as Phillip Grubenov * Robert Zalkind as Michael Simms * Patrick La Brecque as Dawson * Nancy Ringham as Mrs. Garner *

Allen Covert Allen Stephen Covert (born October 12, 1964) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for his starring role in the 2006 comedy film '' Grandma's Boy'', and his supporting actor role in the movie '' Strange Wilderne ...

as Kenny Parry, the cameraman *

Cody Burger Cody Michael Burger (born August 4, 1983) is an American former child actor and network engineer whose noteworthy acting credentials include portraying Cousin Rocky Johnson in '' National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' (1989), an appearance on t ...

as Cody Farley * David Goldman as Nicholas Wales *

as Homer Schulz *

Lauren Michelle Hill Lauren Michelle Hill (born June 27, 1979) is an American model and actress. She first appeared on the cover of ''Playboy'' on the October (Girls of Conference USA) 2000 issue. She was chosen as ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month in February 2001 ...

as Josie, the angelic girl *

Peter Berg Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), the action comedy ''The Rundown'' (2003), the sports drama '' Friday Night Lig ...

as the chef (uncredited)

Production

''Heavyweights'' was filmed over the course of two months in North Carolina at 2 separate camps, Camp Pinnacle and Camp Ton-A-Wandah. Filming started on March 28, 1994 and finished on May 25, 1994.

Soundtrack

The film's original score was composed by

J.A.C. Redford Jonathan Alfred Clawson Redford (born July 14, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor. He is also the author of ''Welcome All Wonders: A Composer's Journey''. Artistic development A wide variety of musical influenc ...

. A soundtrack was not released, but the film featured eleven songs:

Reception

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 has an approval rating of 29% based on reviews from 7 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F. According to Stephen Holden of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', "''Heavyweights'' is really two movies in one, and they don't mesh. One movie is a no-holds-barred spoof of a

Tony Little Tony Little (born September 16, 1956) is an American television fitness personality and businessman, who is best known for his fitness infomercial products. Little is a certified personal trainer and identifies himself as "America's Personal T ...

- or

Susan Powter Susan Powter (born 22 December 1957) is an Australian-born American motivational speaker, nutritionist, personal trainer, and author, who rose to fame in the 1990s with her catchphrase "Stop the Insanity!", the centerpiece of her weight-loss info ...

-style fitness merchant ..The other movie is a conventional family comedy that pokes lighthearted fun at the chubby young campers." In 2012, on the release of the Blu-ray, critic Brian Ordorff gave the film a grade "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."

Box office

The film made $17.6 million at box office and was not successful theatrically, though the film has garnered a cult following.

Home media

''Heavyweights'' was released on VHS on August 15, 1995, LaserDisc on February 20, 1996, and released on DVD on March 4, 2003. Heavyweights was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on December 11, 2012. It was also included on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

in November 2019.

References

External links

* * * * {{Judd Apatow 1995 films 1990s children's comedy films American children's comedy films Caravan Pictures films Films directed by Steven Brill Films produced by Joe Roth Films produced by Roger Birnbaum Films with screenplays by Steven Brill Films shot in North Carolina Films with screenplays by Judd Apatow Films scored by J. A. C. Redford Films about summer camps Walt Disney Pictures films Films about obesity Films produced by Judd Apatow 1995 directorial debut films 1995 comedy films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films