Heavyweights

A Disney movie released in 1995, Heavyweights is the story of Gerald 'Gerry' Gardner and his mates at Camp Hope — a Fat Camp. Once a place filled with fun and go-karts, the camp is bought out by Tony Perkis, who intends to use the campers to make his own weight loss infomercial. Gerry and his friends are subjected to cruel and unusual methods to lose weight. Naturally, they fight back.

The movie is better than it sounds, as it had several classic one-liners, a good soundtrack and Ben Stiller in one early — and definitely unique — role.

Naturally, this page Needs More Love.

Tropes used in Heavyweights include:

• The Ace: Josh
• Acting for Two: Ben Stiller plays Tony and near the end, his father.
• Ax Crazy: While Tony peters on the edge of this throughout the film, he really turns into this when he shows up at parent's weekend, walking on broken glass and doing cartwheels like a mad man.
• Big Bad: Tony
• Binge Montage: A G-Rated version. After Tony is usurped, the campers spend a night celebrating with all the junk food and fun they've been missing, complete with a hangover-like sugar crash and indigestion the morning after.
• Chekhov's Gun: On the long hike up the mountain, Gerry narrowly avoids falling into a hidden pit covered by only a few pieces of wood. Just a little while later, the same pit is used to capture Tony.
• Chekhov's Skill: One scene contains Josh Burnbalm shaving with a straight razor. Later, during the Apache Relay, one of the contests is scraping shaving cream off a balloon.
• Disco Dan: Tim. Or at least his suit.
• The Dragon: Lars
• Evil Is Hammy: Tony
• Gaussian Girl: One of the girls at the dance
• Germanic Efficiency: Played with. Lars is seemingly the perfect henchman for Tony's scheme - he's built, he's intimidating, and he's German. But he's not the brightest crayon in the box and ends up joining the good guys thanks to a traumatic incident with a bear er, deer.
  • It was a big deer.
• Heel Face Turn: Both Kenny the Camera Man and Lars, both of whom stick around after Tony is defeated.
• High School Hustler: Josh is a kid version of this.
• Fat Camp: The whole premise of the movie, after all.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: A young Kenan Thompson in an early role.
  • There's quite a few, actually. Allen Covert (one of Adam Sandler's regulars) plays Tony's cameraman, Paul Feig (creator of Freaks and Geeks and the director of Bridesmaids) plays Tim, Tim Blake Nelson plays Roger Lodge, Jeffrey Tambor plays Gerry's dad and of course, comedy team (and Ben's parents) Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara play the Bushkins.
• Jerkass: Gerry's father, while he has Gerry's best intentions at heart, he really comes off looking like a jerk half the time. He does make up for it by punching out Tony.
  • Tony
• Kick the Dog: If it wasn't obvious Tony was an ass already, ending the dance just as it gets going cements it.
• Laughably Evil: Tony, it helps that he's played by Ben Stiller in his prime.
• Mixed Metaphor: Tony mixes up the story of Icarus and Sisyphus, and without making a point anyway.
• The Mole: Turns out the ex-Chipmunk who works for Tony (the one who revealed their stash) also sneaks them food if properly compensated.
• My Grandma Can Do Better Than You:

Tony: My grandma can run faster than you, and she's only got one leg!

• Rookie Red Ranger: Gerry, who is a first timer at the camp but by the end is leading the group against Tony and in the Apache Relay.
• Second Place Is for Losers: The neighboring camp that Camp Hope competes against. They actually contest Camp Hope's win against them in the final contest, when it was clearly fair and square.
• Shallow Love Interest: Subverted. Nurse Julie is shown to have her own reasons for helping the kids, has a medical degree giving her even more reason to be concerned about the kids, and her romance with Pat builds throughout the story.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: The Camp Hope Kids are the slobs, with their overweight and proud of it ways and lack of manners but are still really good kids. The Snobs are both sets of villains: Tony who noticeably starts out in a suit and wears very sleek sportswear throughout the movie while his minions are dressed in matching uniforms and turn the camp into hell, and the rival camp, who have nicer uniforms and look down on the Camp Hope campers and are complete douchebags.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: We never see any other campers besides the Chipmunks, and they're only implied to exist a few times.
• Training from Hell: Decontructed and then some. It's obvious to everyone BUT Tony that his weight loss methods are actually harming the campers, and bordering on super-dangerous.
• True Companions: Chipmunk cabin
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: Tony
• The Unfettered: Tony is very, very passionate and driven about his goal to "Perkisize" the camp. By the second half of the movie, though, he's bordering on Ax Crazy.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Tony has shades of this, especially near the end of the movie when his father comes to straighten things out.
  • Gerry too, though to a much lighter degree.