Heavyweights (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:

Tom McGowan, Aaron Schwartz, Ben Stiller

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:

fat camp | summer camp | mother son relationship | father son relationship | videotape | 

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Taglines:

They never met a hot dog they didn't like... until now.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some rude language and pranks

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Heavyweights

Filming Locations:

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$17,689,177

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

While Ben Stiller played the parts of both Tony Perkins and his father, the Bushkins were played by his actual parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

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Goofs

The Bushkins would not have filed For Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Chapter 9 is for municipalities.

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Quotes

Tim: [sees the kids have locked Tony up] Oh good God!
Pat Finley: This is insane!
Julie: This is great!
Gerry: So, what was you guys' plan?
Pat Finley: What do you guys think you're doing?
Gerry: Taking over the camp.
Tim: Guys, you can't kidnap the owner of a camp! They give people the *chair* for things like this.
Gerry: It was self defense, you have to believe us.
Julie: I believe you.
Roy: Pat, you know what? He snapped!
[...]

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Connections

Spoofs One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

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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

To this day...

...I don't know how on god's green earth I originally watched this film!

A stupid feel good film about a bunch of FAT kid's who are sent away to the American tradition of Summer Camp, in these kid's case FAT CAMP!

A coming of age/lesson learned (that you can achieve and that it's okay to be FAT)

A few familar faces appear in this here movie including Ben Stiller and the fat one from Keanan & Kel in fact a couple of the kid's were token Disney player's who went from film to film for the Disney production companies (including this one)

A rubbish film really!

2/10