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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.

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

Visit my site at http://moviemusereviews.com

"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.

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

Heavyweights was a movie that will not teach you any lessons. All this movie will teach you to do is have the time of your life whenever you are released from school for the summer. However, I still think that the movie Camp Nowhere was a little bit better though.

11 year old fat kid Jerry (Aaron Schwartz) finds out that his parents are sending him to Camp Hope for the summer. He gets excited by the idea at first until he discovers that it's a camp for fat children. After he is forced to go, he arrives and meets a ton of cool kids even though their fat also. He immediatley fits in the group and everyone is happy until the owners of the camp discover that they're being replaced by the psycho health nut Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller). Tony puts the boys through nothing but a living nightmare because he makes them work out 24/7 and doesn't let them eat anything good or let them have any fun. So the boys put their heads together and work on a plan to take down Tony and take the camp over themselves to have some FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must say that this was one of Ben Stiller's very first movies and he did such a hilarious job with the character.

Heavyweights is a very entertaining family comedy that will leave you laughing even while the credits are rolling.