Heavy Weights (1995)

Plump kids are lured into joining a posh fat camp with the promise of quick weight loss and good times, only to find that the facility is a woodland hellhole run by a psycho ex-fitness instructor.

Director:

Steven Brill

Writers:

Judd Apatow, Steven Brill

Stars:

David Goldman, Tom McGowan, Aaron Schwartz

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Goldman	...	Nicholas
Joseph Wayne Miller	...	Sam
Cody Burger	...	Cody
Allen Covert	...	Kenny
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Roger Johnson
Nancy Ringham	...	Mrs. Maury Garner
Seth St. Laurent	...	Camp MVP Racer
Bobby Fain	...	Camp MVP Pitcher
Tom McGowan	...	Pat Finley
Aaron Schwartz	...	Gerald 'Gerry' Garner
Shaun Weiss	...	Josh Burnbalm
Tom Hodges	...	Lars
Leah Lail	...	Julie
Paul Feig	...	Tim
Kenan Thompson	...	Roy

Storyline

11-year-old Gerald "Gerry" Garner lives in Long Island, New York, and he's overweight. Gerry's parents Maury and Mrs. Garner decide to send Gerry to Camp Hope, a camp for overweight boys. The camp is owned by kindly Harvey Bushkin and his equally kind wife Alice Bushkin. When the Bushkins file for bankruptcy the camp has to be sold, it is bought by a wacko named Tony Perkis. Tony plans to force the campers to lose as much weight as they can, and he also intends to document the marathon shedding of weight and use it for an infomercial for his slenderizing program. In the eyes of the campers, Tony has made Camp Hope a living hell. As Gerry and counselor Pat Finley lead the efforts to overthrow Tony, the campers prepare for the Apache Relay against arch rival Camp MVP. The Apache Relay is a kind of race in which Camp Hope has never defeated Camp MVP before.

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Plot Keywords:

overweight | fat camp | fitness | exercise | boy | 

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Taglines:

They don't run the fastest. They don't jump the highest. But they sure are getting the last laugh.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some rude language and pranks

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agir Toplar

Filming Locations:

Camp Pinnacle - 4080 Little River Road, Hendersonville, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$17,689,177 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Caravan Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The story that Tony tells the boys during the hike is actually a confused mix of the myths of Icarus and Sisyphus. Sisyphus was a Greek king who tricked the gods on several occasions. As punishment, upon his death, he was forced to push a boulder up a hill for all of eternity. Before he could reach the top of the hill, the boulder would roll back down and he would have to start over. Icarus was a young man who tried to escape an island prison with his father, Daedalus, by making wings out of feathers and wax. Despite his father's warnings, Icarus flew too close to the sun, his wings melted and he fell to his death.

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Goofs

When Pat and Gerry are talking by the bus in the beginning, you can see reflections of the cameraman behind them in the bus. But when they turn around and show them, they are all kids.

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Quotes

Tony Perkis: Repulse the monkey... part the wild horse's mane.

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Crazy Credits

As the credits end, a doorbell rings. A door is opened to reveal Tony Perkis, now a door-to-door salesman selling "Healing Crystals". After a brief salesman speech from Perkis, the door is slammed shut in his face.

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Connections

Spoofs Platoon (1986)

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Soundtracks

"SATURDAY NIGHT"
Written by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter
Performed by The Bay City Rollers
Courtesy of Arista Records, Inc.

User Reviews

A classic that delivers laughs as big as the kids stomachs!

Heavyweights is the story of a group of kids who with the help of their counselor go on a mission to take back their fat camp from a crazy man who has never interacted with kids before (played by Ben Stiller) who is intend on making it into a money making informercial.

I first saw this as a child, and absolutely loved it. I must have watched it again on at least 5 other occassions. Recently I was in the video store and came across a copy of it for sale. After convincing my friend to buy it , we went back to his house and popped it into the VCR. I wondered if the film would hold up after all these years. Did it? Absolutely! In fact I may have gotten bigger laughs this time around.

I do not understand why this film has a 5.1 rating, after reminding this movie to my friends they all recalled loving it, and everyone I recently watched it with loved it. Ben Stiller's character is hillarious, and the rest of the cast is great. Besides Ben, Kenan Thompson is the only other actor in this who went on to become somewhat of a star, which is suprising because all the kids give great performances. Tom Mcgowan, the man who plays Pat, seemed to be chosen for the role because Chris Farley passed on it, and John Candy died, but he gives a great performance.

I know it sounds cliche, but Heavyweights is truly one of the few movies that people of all ages will love.

9/10