Heavy Weights is a movie, released in 1995, about an adventurous summer at a fat camp, Camp Hope. The movie stars Ben and Jerry Stiller, Tom McGowan, and many of the kids from the Mighty Ducks movies.
The movie's plot is thrown into effect once the kids arrive at camp to realize that the kind-hearted owners of the camp, Harvey and Alice Bushkin (played by Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, respectively), have sold the camp due to Chapter 9 Bankruptcy.
The new owner is Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller), a super-energized health nut, with a mission. Placing camera men all around the camp, Tony Perkis, or "Uncle Tony" as he refers to himself, has plans of turning the entire summer into a big weight-loss infomercial.
From the beginning, Tony's program is unpopular with the kids of the camp. He confiscates candy, works them too hard, denies them food, and verbally abuses them to name just a few of his rotten deeds. When Josh (Shaun Weiss), the charismatic alpha-male of the fat kids, stands up to Uncle Tony, he is kicked out of camp, only to return, citing his lawyer father's threatening to sue Tony Perkis as his ticket back into camp.
Much of the plot action is centered around the kids' many attempts to foil Tony's plans. There is a struggle for power throughout much of the film, but the kids end up capturing Tony with a clever trap door through which he falls into a deep pit.
Once Tony is out of power, the kids (and some of the more well-liked counselors) take over the camp. At first there is complete anarchy, culminating in a giant, woodstock-like eating festival that makes a mess of the entire camp. In the end, though, the kids (with the help of their well-meaning mentors) take up a real effort to get in shape and compete in the annual big relay race against the adjacent Sports Camp.
In a somewhat slapsticky montage of events, the kids begin to train hard and eat right.
Before the relay race, during the parents' visiting day, Tony makes an escape, fist-fights Gerald Garner's father, Maury and ends up being escorted from the premises, leaving the kids, and Pat Finley (Tom Mcgowan), a counselor who has been with the camp for 18 years, in charge.
Needless to say, the fat kids beat the Athletic kids in the big relay race.
Although I don't really care for the plight of the obese, I give this movie two thumbs way up. I have watched it countless times over the years; and, whenever I find out that somebody else has seen it, I feel a special bond with that person. The film is an unlikely candidate, but ,in my eyes it is definately a cult classic.
I believe much of this movies appeal comes from the juxtaposition of Ben Stillers noisy, oddly charismatic character, and the more mellow fat people that take up the remainder of the movie. Stiller does a great job in creating a character that we love to hate.