Heavyweights
| Heavyweights | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Steven Brill |
| Produced by |
Roger Birnbaum Joe Roth Michael Fottrell Judd Apatow Jack Giarraputo |
| Written by | Steven Brill Judd Apatow |
| Starring |
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| Music by | J. A. C. Redford |
| Cinematography | Victor Hammer |
| Edited by | C. Timothy O'Meara |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $17.6 million |
Heavyweights (stylized onscreen as Heavy Weights) is a 1995 comedy film directed by Steven Brill and co-written by Brill with Judd Apatow. The film centers around a fat camp for kids that is taken over by a fitness guru named Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller).
As school ends for the summer, Gerry Garner (Aaron Schwartz) is sent by his parents to Camp Hope, a weight loss camp for boys. Despite worrying at first, Gerry makes friends easily at camp and learns that Camp Hope is actually a lot of fun and won't be nearly as bad as he thinks. (As one veteran of the camp put it, Gerald is "not the fat kid, everyone's the fat kid.") He also discovers that the other campers have smuggled in enough junk food to easily stave off the hunger pangs and probably counteract any weight loss that the camp programs cause.
But all is not well at Camp Hope. The first night of the summer brings the revelation that the original owners of Camp Hope (Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara) have entered bankruptcy and the camp has been bought by fitness entrepreneur Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller), who announces his plan to make the camp's new exercise regime into the top weight loss infomercial in the country. Tony tries to make himself seem like someone the campers can relate to, saying that he was a fat kid when he was younger too, but his methods of motivating the campers border on psychotic.
Tony cleanses the cabins of the campers' food caches, cuts off their contact with the outside world, and installs an exercise outline of trendy fitness techniques that downplay fun to the point of humiliation.
The campers discover a secret food stash and actually gain weight, despite Tony's fitness regimen. Eventually, the time comes when the summer is halfway through, and Tony decides to weigh the boys and mark their progress. Once he realizes that the boys have been gaining weight instead of losing it, Tony forces them on a 20-mile hike, reasoning that this will not only help the boys work off some of their extra weight, but will also restore discipline. On the hike, the campers trick Tony into falling into a deep pit, severely injuring him. The boys bring Tony back to camp and imprison him in a makeshift cell of chicken wire electrified with a bug zapper.
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