THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240060
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
FROM THE Disney studios comes a movie that encourages us to pass the Gummi Bears, pour on the chocolate sauce and have another Baby Ruth, or three.
Walt, wherever you are, are you keeping an eye on this?
The message of ``Heavyweights'' is that fat boys have fun, too - especially when they outmaneuver and outguess fitness experts.
``Heavyweights'' is not really a new movie. It's just the latest in the ``pull for the underdog'' series which, after the success of ``The Mighty Ducks'' and all the way back to ``The Good News Bears,'' seems endless.
We love to see the underdogs win. We love to see the nerds get their revenge and the misfits triumph. But how often can we see the same movie over and over?
You'd think that Hollywood would, sooner or later, run out of either underdogs or sports for them to unexpectedly triumph in. Indeed, ``Heavyweights'' has a pretty desperate marathon race tacked on to the last reel, just to get the sports angle included.
The fat boys have always been happy at Camp Hope, where they easily hide calorie-filled goodies all over their cabins. But, alas, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara (that wonderful comedy team) announce they have gone bankrupt and had to sell the place to a fitness nut.
The new owner (played by their real-life son Ben Stiller) plans to use the camp for a TV infomercial to sell his fitness equipment. He makes life miserable for the fat boys.
None of the boys is really developed as a character, which leaves each as something of a mass of blubber flapping about in the background. Maybe the moviemakers could have been kinder by proving that individuals are more important than stereotypes. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``Heavyweights''
Cast: Ron McGowan, Aaron Schwartz, Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller,
Anne Meara
Director: Steven Brill
Screenplay: Judd Apatow and Steven Brill
MPAA rating: PG (potty jokes and such)
Mal's rating: *
Locations: Pembroke, Lynnhaven Mall, Kempsriver Crossing in
Virginia Beach, Circle 6 and Main Gate in Norfolk, Movies 10 in
Chesapeake
by CNB