Plot

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

11-year-old Gerry Garner lives in Long Island, New York, and is overweight. His parents decide to send him to Camp Hope, a camp for overweight boys. It is owned by kindly Harvey Bushkin and his equally kind wife, Alice. When they file for bankruptcy, the camp has to be sold. It is bought by a wacko named Tony Perkis. He plans to force the campers to lose as much weight as they can, and 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, he has made Camp Hope a living hell. As Gerry and counselor Pat Finley lead the efforts to overthrow him, 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.—Todd Baldridge

Gerry, an overweight preteen, is sent to a "fat farm" for the summer, lured by the promise of go-karts and swimming fun. When he arrives, however, he finds that it has been bought by a fitness guru whose mental stability quickly deteriorates. Gerry and his friends, including a counselor whose been there 18 years, finally make a stand.—Dan Weckerly

School is out for the summer, and Gerry Garner eagerly forecasts weeks of lazing around the house. That is, until his parents inform him that they have signed him up for a holiday at Camp Hope, a "fat camp" that, unbeknownst to him, is about to be bought by mentally unhinged fitness guru named Tony Perkis, and turned into a rigorous fitness facility for youths. Tony pumps the fun out of the whole summer, and, with his assistant, Lars, punishes anybody who tries to break his totalitarian grip on the campus. Together with his new friends and the original staff, Gerry must stop Tony's brutal regime, and take back the camp at all costs.—Eddy (eddy2377)