Childhood Wish Fulfillment #1: Heavyweights
A Quick Search on IMDB: Heavyweights was directed by Steven Brill, written by Judd Apatow and Brill, and was released in 1995.
Before the Viewing: I’ll be honest, I didn’t choose this movie because someone recommended it to me, for its critical acclaim, or because it had a cult fanbase that I wanted to be a part of. In fact, I didn’t choose it for any other reason than it was a movie my parents never let me watch.
Heavyweights came out the year I was born, so obviously I wouldn’t have seen it in theaters. But my older brother liked it, and I have an early memory of him watching it on TV. As it was rated PG, and my father still to this day treats MPAA ratings as the law, I was surely shuffled out of the living room in the late ’90s. But not before catching the scene of a man getting tied to a tree and having honey smeared across his chest. I was confused. I was mystified. I had to know why it was happening. And yet, when I would have been deemed old enough to finally see the film, it was nowhere to be found.
So, imagine my pure joy as I scrolled through what was available on the Disney+ streaming service and saw the iconic image of four chubby campers holding up a kid dressed as a massive hot dog. I quickly added it to my watchlist and decided, why not enjoy this quarter-life crisis project a little more?
Now, I highly doubt this film is going to light me on fire, especially since I’m far from its desired demographic. However, nostalgia is a powerful thing. That little girl who was “too young” for a PG comedy (made for kids, Dad) grew into a woman who can appreciate a very broad range of genres.
Here’s hoping that it was actually worth the wait.
After the Viewing: Okay, I have opinions.
I’ll start off by saying I was a little nervous as soon as I pressed play. As someone who has never been able to refer to herself as “skinny,” the trope of Funny Fat Person has always grated on my nerves. Yes, there are plenty of heavy people who happen to be hilarious at the same time. But what I don’t like is when people only think someone is funny because of their weight. I find it offensive and I find it lazy.
That said, Heavyweights is an absolutely lovely and heartwarming story about the kids and staff members at a fat camp.
Things I Loved: Yes, yes, I know he’s played a lot of these before, but Ben Stiller is at his best when he portrays a douchebag. His character, Tony Perkis, is undoubtedly the villain of this movie, and Stiller commits to being the most unlikable, self-righteous fitness guru in such a way that I genuinely hated him and audibly laughed at his behavior a few times.
Tom McGowan as Pat Finley was another highlight. Yes, the trope of Schlub Gets the Hot Girl is tired and a lot of people make fun of it for being unrealistic. But honestly, I can’t blame Nurse Julie for falling for this man. He’s a nice person with a good head on his shoulders, who truly cares for the campers. And I won’t lie, I fell for him a little in that scene where he pushes our protagonist, Gerry, around the go-kart track. Ugh, and don’t even get me started on his beautiful speech about the boys taking responsibility for themselves. What a perfect man.
Like I said, I was initially nervous that this movie would become, “Haha, let’s laugh at the fat kids for being fat,” but I was pleasantly surprised at how the film panned out. Yes, there is a whole scene where the campers (and some of the adults) have what I can only think to call a binge-eating orgy. But at the end of the day, this movie was about how no matter what your weight, you are just as awesome as the next person. (Chubby little Emily could have really used a message like that, Dad.)
Things I Could Have Done Without: All right, it’s a big one. And it’s impossible to ignore.
Cultural insensitivity.
There were a few scenes in this otherwise delightful film that were hard to watch without gritting my teeth and making a face. The character of Josh is introduced as the stereotypical Italian, wearing a tracksuit and acting like a mob boss. And then there’s Lars, the man I remembered being tied to the tree, with his vaguely Eastern European accent and his cruel, no-nonsense attitude.
What was even harder to watch was the climax of the film. Yes, it was awesome to see the Camp Hope kids beat the sub-villains of Camp MVP…but did it have to be in the Apache Relay, where they dressed as stereotypical Native Americans, feathers and tasseled deer hide and all? Yikes.
We’re better than that. And we should have been a lot better than that in 1995.
In Conclusion: Yes, little Emily, Heavyweights was worth the wait. Was it the greatest movie I’ve ever seen? Of course not. But it was wonderful for what it was — a silly ’90s comedy about a fat camp.
And can I see why my dad didn’t want his young daughter to watch this with her older brother? Yeah, I guess. There weren’t as many swears as I thought there would be, but I don’t blame my parents for not wanting me to see Josh put his bare ass in Ben Stiller’s face.
All in all, I found Heavyweights to be an enjoyable watch and I do not regret sitting down to do it.
