Pesos Pesados

"Heavyweights" is a mid-90's Disney film about a fat camp taken over by the villainous fatboy-turned-success Tony Perkis. While the premise is not so novel, the execution is great and keeps you pretty entertained throughout.

Some of the humor is dated, very 90's-specific. However, there is plenty of timeless, cross-generational humor, and Ben Stiller is absolutely at the top of his game. He would reprise this role many times again in his career: the guy with low self-esteem who becomes an overcompensating jerk. Tom McGowan, who plays a Camp Hope lifer, also plays a solid role and draws many laughs.

Sure, it's another Disney story about underdog kids who end up conquering the odds... or something like that. But Stiller and McGowan are great, and the kids do a pretty admirable too. It's not a must-see movie, but you also won't feel like you wasted your time for having watched it.

Despite being a child of the '90s, somehow I missed "Heavyweights" entirely. Considering the similarities it shares with "The Mighty Ducks" movies such as actors Kenan Thompson and Shaun Weiss, I'm almost embarrassed. Regardless, there's still plenty to appreciate about "Heavyweights" 15 years later in spite of its silliness -- and it's more than just a joke about the ineptitude of the Buffalo Bills.

For one, it was written and directed by Judd Apatow, who has a majority hold on the comedies of the last decade and for two, it marks one of Ben Stiller's first prominent roles as fitness wack-job Tony Perkis, who takes over a once-adored fat camp and harasses the kids.

Good thing "Heavyweights" was made then or it may never have surfaced, seeing as the age of political correctness and weight sensitivity has befallen us. The film is not cruel at all in its depiction of overweight campers, so parents surfing around for slightly older kid films and coming across this one shouldn't be concerned about that factor, but there's no doubt that such a concept would be hard to get off the ground, especially at Disney, in the 21st Century.

Co-written by Apatow and Steven Brill, writer of "The Mighty Ducks" films, it was as if the two conspired to plant a seed for a type of humor that kids my age at the time would come to identify as their own as they entered the PG-13 and R-rated age. Tony Perkis, for example, is the spitting character image of Stiller's White Goodman from "Dodgeball" and yet to me he is just as amusing doing his patented whispery intimidating voice now despite my countless repeated viewings of "Dodgeball."

There's also a classic overnight camp comedy sense of humor in "Heavyweights" like the kids getting beat in sports by their rival camp, an awkward dance mixer with a normal girls camp and when the kids unload the candy stashes they've snuck in camp into secret compartments -- as well as the run-of-the-mill fart jokes. Characters such as Tony's hysterical right-hand European man Lars, however, were way ahead of their time.

"Heavyweights" is pretty immature and excludes girls (because fat girls would be too taboo for the '90s). Its typical camp movie plot as well as its "overthrow-the-bad-guy" story arch - - which ruled the '90s -- come off as stale. But ignore those distractions and "Heavyweights" is a funny, quotable movie with some classic scenes, which is all a kid (or someone trying to go back and grab some nostalgia) really wants.

~Steven C

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Heavyweights is one of those movies that most people either love it or hate it. But for me it's a terrific comedy from my childhood that still holds up today.

From the 1990's comes a film about a bunch of kids who go to fat camp. The camp gets a new owner who's eccentric ways begin to make life difficult for the campers, who then take matters into their own hands.

It's a fun movie for the whole family, and filled with plenty of laughs for kids and adults alike. The characters were wonderfully cast with good young actors, and Ben Stiller does an amazing job as the main villain of the film. I would recommend this movie to any comedy fan.

I think that I could do this review simply by saying "Judd Apatow." Every thing this man writes ranges from good to great, so it does not surprise me that I enjoyed this movie so much. Comprised of some well known actors from The Mighty Ducks series, including, wait for it, Gooooldberg, these young stars (well, young at the time) put on quite the show. When Tony Perkins (Ben Stiller) buys Camp Hope none of the campers could have known just how bad things would become, but frankly, I enjoyed watching.

This movie, which I deem viewable for all ages, is the type of light-hearted comedy that I loved in the 90′s and still love today. All of the campers are funny in their own way, and they have memorable performances. To this day I still hear people shout, "Watch out for Salami Sam" when they jump into a pool. Ben Stiller's performance, which unfortunately was pretty much recycled years later in dodgeball, was at the time hilarious and unique. One of the most under-rated shinning stars of this move is Tom Hodges who plays Lars, a counselor at Tony's camp who is from "far away." The acting/writing combination, along with a bit of 90′s nostalgia makes 'Heavy Weights' a great movie to watch.

This is one of the funniest movies I've seen. And fat people will not be offended, I have friends that have really been to "fat camp" and they were laughing harder than I was, and I really don't see what's so gross about it. This is a great film go out and rent it. 9.5 out of 10.