(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Heavyweights)
Doug (vo): So for awhile, people have been asking me to review the movie Heavyweights and I was like, "The '90s fat camp movie?" Like, I remember seeing a commercial or two, but it just kind of looked like a whole bunch of nothing and it disappeared. I never heard about it again until recently. Suddenly, it seemed to get this big following, there's a lot of people who really seem to like this film. And honestly, from looking at the trailers, I thought it was just a whole bunch of fat jokes, which, you know, don't get me wrong, I'm okay with fat jokes, but it's kind of like fart jokes. After two, they start to get pretty stale. But after hearing so many people really enjoyed it, I decided to give it a look. It's not...good, but I guess it's kind of hard to say it's bad, either. This is a film that certainly tries harder than it needs to, but I can't really say that makes the thing work as a whole. But on the other hand, there were some good laughs in it.
Story[]
Doug (vo): Gerald is a boy who doesn't really seem to fit in because, well, he's overweight, and because of that, he's a little bit of an outcast. He doesn't go outside much, even dogs bark at him. Yeah, that was pretty funny. But one day, he's told about this camp called Camp Hope. The more he gets info on it, though, he starts to put together that it's a fat camp. But the good news is it's the most laid-back fat camp there ever was. All the kids have amazing hiding places for their sweets and they honestly don't even need it because the people running the place don't really care. In fact, one of them lost a lot of weight, and actually, the fat kids are making fun of him for being too skinny. All that changes, though when a fitness guru named Tony Perkins, played by Ben Stiller, ends up taking over the camp and totally redoing everything. He's obsessed with this extreme workout program that he put together and wants to make every single kid there as fit as he is. Obviously, this clashes with the people who work there and, of course, the kids themselves. Will they be able to fight back, give him his comeuppance and form strong friendships by the end? Is the guy who made this also the guy who made The Mighty Ducks? Did I even need to mention that? This is so Mighty Ducks, just at a fat camp-ish?
Review[]
Doug (vo): Alright, so let's get to the one thing almost universally everybody loves, even people who don't like this movie, Ben Stiller. He is just giving a million percent. He's a pretty funny satire of all these fitness gurus and I also like the fact you can tell he's never been around kids before. Like, when he's first made fun of, he doesn't even know how to react to it. But I got to say, and I might be the only critic in the world to say this, I think he comes in too early. When I saw the trailers, I always thought he came in about halfway through the movie or maybe like the end of the first act, but no. Like day two, he shows up. And while this character is great, he is a lot to take in. This is kind of like if you did Beetlejuice and he showed up right after the main characters died. No, no, no, you got to build them up, you got to kind of space it out a little bit.
(Footage focusing on the kids is shown)
Doug (vo): And part of the reason for that might be I actually end up kind of liking these kids. I think this movie, either intentionally or unintentionally, does kind of show the problem back then in '90s films where one kid was just the trope of the fat kid, like, that's it, that was his personality. Here, they're all fat, but they all have different character traits. The main character is kind of lost and insecure and trying to find his place. There's this one kid who's kind of the tough guy and stands up to authority and he's kind of the prankster. There's another one who's kind of the geek. There's this British kid who's very proper and well-educated. And you could argue, sure, they're just kind of combining one trope with another, but sad to say that is kind of a few steps beyond what we're used to in these kind of movies. And even with that said, some are still really underdeveloped. Like, Kenan Thompson is just the black kid, the female nurse is just the woman. So as much as they do add in some areas, they kind of leave other areas exactly as bland as they usually are. But I will say I was laughing more at this film than I thought I would. Like, I love when the main character is flying to the camp and Kenan Thompson sees him there and he asks, "Oh, is that your dad?" And he's like, "No, why would you think that?" And he says, "Oh, 'cause he's fat, too." The black kid assumed the fat person next to the other fat person was related to him. That's surprisingly kind of subtle for back then. There's a really great moment where one kid stands up to Perkins and they're all laughing, and then it just kind of cuts to his bunk empty and nobody knows what happened to him, they're just told his bunk is available. That's pretty hilarious. There are a lot of moments like that where it goes just a little beyond what you're used to in a typical Disney '90s film, and it is appreciated.
(Footage focusing on the humorous moments is shown)
Doug (vo): The problem is it doesn't commit to anything. Like, okay, that joke I just told you about the kid comes back, which, okay, we kind of know he's not going to be dead or anything, but you expect them to do something with this. Like, I don't know, they sent him to a worse fat camp and like he talks about the different tortures they had there or maybe they sent him to like a manners camp and somehow, it's even worse than this fat camp, or like, I don't know, just something, something that's humorous. But the kid comes back, he pretends he has a lobotomy. Okay, that's cute, but then he just kind of says, "Oh, yeah, my dad's a lawyer and he got me back in." Well, that's not funny. Why'd you even get rid of the kid to begin with? When the kids inevitably start to fight back, it becomes a little bit like Lord of the Flies and I was actually really looking forward to what they were going to do with this, and it's just a very brief moment of what you think they would do. They kind of dress up in tribe clothes and they eat a bunch of food, and that's it, it's done. Like, all I was thinking was how much better this was done in The Simpsons with Camp Krusty.
(Various footage is shown, mostly focusing on the relay race between the two camps and Gerry riding in a go-kart with Patrick's help)
Doug (vo): And then there's this confusing message about, "We shouldn't judge kids by how they look," but then it's like, "But we are going to get you into shape." I mean, okay, we kind of know they're not going to take a break from the production and lose a bunch of weight, but what about just losing the extra weight they put on that one night where they went crazy, I guess? But it's okay, it's all to get to the relay race at the end. Wait, what? Oh, you mean that one camp we saw before, where there were a bunch of a-holes like very, very briefly? Like, this is the climax of the movie? Now, it's obvious the film doesn't have that much focus, and honestly, I wouldn't mind if it just kind of celebrated that, like, "Hey, we're just here to have a good time and tell some jokes." And I don't know, they act like you're supposed to care about a lot of these scenes, and sometimes, you do. Like, I really like this one scene where the main character says he's never been on a go-kart before, and even though the counselor he's befriended doesn't have much power, he's like, "Let me show you what it's like" and he just pushes him around the go-kart. It's a nice little moment that, yeah, is kind of ruined by the corny Disney music, but it still works okay. But no, man, that was all building up to the giant go-kart race at the end, 'cause, like I said, fighting this other camp that you barely saw is all what it was about, not defeating this villain that got a lot more screen time.
(Footage focusing on some of the camp activities is shown)
Doug (vo): But even then, they managed to work in a few things that are clever. Like, yeah, goes without saying that they're not going to do great at the physical activities, but then the activities where they just have to be a little smarter or a little bit more clever or just have fun with it, they do good at those. I kind of like it, it shows if you just focus too much on one thing like your physical health, that doesn't really complete you, which is ironic because like I said, this movie doesn't do the best job focusing on just one thing. Maybe if they moved stuff around a little bit, like maybe the first half is just them being at the camp and seeing this rival camp and they're kind of a-holes, but you know, you make them funny, you make them kind of stupid, but they're super fit, and then halfway through is when Ben Stiller's character comes in. Maybe then you'd feel something when you see both these antagonists get their comeuppances.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): But let's be honest, this is not a movie you really watch, like you really focus on, this is a movie you put on when you're a kid and maybe it's a rainy day or you're just looking to waste an hour and a half, and you put on the movie, you talk over half of it. Sometimes, it reminds you of stuff that maybe you did at camp or some sort of similar experience, and when a funny moment happens, you laugh. When a non-funny moment happens, you just talk about something else. Now, does that technically make it a good movie? I don't think it does. I think a movie should come all the way through with a good story and characters, but I do totally acknowledge there is a place for a film like this. It's something to have on in the background and get a few laughs every once in a while. And like I said, there are some good laughs. I especially love when they're taking the before pictures and they have to make everything look really gray and depressing. There is stuff that's going to stick with me, and it's proven that it sticks with a lot of other people, too. And had the film put in even more of the effort they were kind of slipping in here and there and less of the Disney tropes, I think you'd have a really funny comedy. As is, I can't say the whole thing works, but there is a fair amount that entertains me quite a bit. My guess is, if you watch the trailers and you have even the tiniest interest in watching it, you'll at least find it okay. Hell, you might even love it ironically. You can't really call it that heavy a film, but I'm sure to a fair amount, it'll be just light enough.
(The ending scene where the bus leaves Camp Hope is shown)