Fit fürs Leben

This movie has it all: love, friendship, the fight for self-esteem, parental battles and...female body-building?

In "Getting Physical", a put-upon and particularly chubby young woman (Paul, who's probably never had a chubby day in her life), gets tired of her life of ridicule and misery, and decides to get her life and health back together by (how else?) lifting weights and training to be a professional body-builder.

Under the tutelage of old pro Nadine Cawley (Bergman, still as sinewy as she was in "All that Jazz"), Paul pumps and primps and becomes the belle of the barbell set, so to speak. Much to the chagrin of her boyfriend (Naughton, long gone from his Dr. Pepper days), she shows more muscle on the beach than he, which upsets his fragile male ego to no end. Then, there's her hard-to-please father (Webber? Puh-leeze....) who can't understand why the lady looks like a dude.

All of this, of course, leads to a final competition where Paul poses alongside real-life champs like Lyon, Csencsits and McLish (always a pleasure to see her). But consider, would a woman with Paul's build (no matter how hard she's been training) be able to stand up alongside pros like these and not get laughed off the stage? Not likely, but thank goodness there's always TV.

How does the competition end? Does Paul make her dreams come true? Does Naughton finally accept his buff babe? Does Daddy think his little girl is good enough? You seen many TV movies lately? You have to ask?

Five stars. As noted before, the posing scenes come off best, and could make a movie all by themselves. But, if the video store is out of "Pumping Iron II: The Women", try to find "Getting Physical"...and fast forward it to near the end.

There is something I find so hot about non-professional physique women posing - the ones that are in the biz look so bored by it all, but seeing Alexandra Paul flex is... you get the idea :-B

Rachel McLish is also very sexy, and the fact that she is a bit mentally crazy just adds to her eroticism. I liked that scene of her in Pumping Iron 2: The Women, where she hits a shot of Jack Daniels before she goes back onstage. Good times.

Crazy, buff, and egotistical, my dream woman.

I am going to repeat myself to get to 10 lines.

Rachel McLish is also very sexy, and the fact that she is a bit mentally crazy just adds to her eroticism. I liked that scene of her in Pumping Iron 2: The Women, where she hits a shot of Jack Daniels before she goes back onstage. Good times.

We have already seen such topics, man times, during the eighties, movies destined to housewives, describing some of them, women with flabby physiques who suddenly decide to become some kind of super women thru sport. That can be marathon, triathlon, rowing, soccer, or - like this one - bodybuilding. The scheme is always the same, not even realistic, unlike most of TV popular stuff. products which most audiences can feel some self resemblance with.

Despite appalling script and acting, this film is well worth seeing. This is because it features a (fictional) female bodybuilding contest which features many of the early stars of the sport, such as Rachel McLish, Lisa Lyons and Candy Csentsits. They all look very beautiful, not like today's gargantuan female bodybuilders. This section of the film should definitely be watched with one finger on the pause button (if you know what I mean!)