Wednesday 18 June 2014

Review: Heavyweights (1995)

Again, another film downloaded to my iPad and I'm so glad I did.  I watched this when I was younger and had forgotten all about it until now so it was a bit of a blast from the past for me.


A group of slightly larger children are invited to a 'fat camp' with the promise of an exciting, action packed summer.  Unfortunately, the camp has been sold to Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller) who is a fitness fanatic and vows to get the boys into shape with whatever means necessary, whether the boys like it or not!

Ok so this film isn't particularly deep and at points it focuses worryingly on how it's ok to be obese (ignoring any health issues this may pose) but it is a simple plotline with skilled child actors that makes you laugh.  You don't need to think or concentrate and you can just enjoy it.  This is one of Ben Stiller's earlier roles and I'm guessing he used this to get ideas for his part in Dodgeball and they seem pretty similar characters.  The boys fight back and choose to stay bigger and not be part of Perkis' plans for an Infomercial on weight loss with hilarious consequences, this does make you laugh out loud in places.  This is possibly my favourite scene in the whole film, the junk food party, it's like spring break for fat kids:


You can spot the Judd Apatow humour a mile off, which is part of the reason why I still love this movie as I am generally a big fan of Judd Apatow's writing.  Plus the original camp owners are actually played by Ben Stiller's parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

This sounds like a pretty decent film, although I've never heard of it! I don't think there's been a Ben Stiller film that I haven't enjoyed so I'll have to give this a go some day soon. Funnily enough I watched Zoolander for the first time in about 9 years and it reminded me of how much I like him.

When you have a few hours to kill, watch this.  It doesn't take much effort but it does make you laugh.

1 comment:

  1. LOL! I'm so glad you reviewed this! I loved this movie as a kid and caught it a few months ago on ABC Family and still loved it. Shameless fun. Dumb, but really funny!

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