Heavy Weights

Directed by Steven Brill, Heavy Weights follows several hefty kids as they attempt to take back their beloved summer camp from an overbearing fitness instructor (Ben Stiller’s Tony Perkis). It’s a familiar (yet promising) premise that’s employed to mostly agreeable effect by Brill, as the filmmaker, armed with his and Judd Apatow’s script, delivers a pervasively agreeable comedy that boasts its fair share of genuine laughs – with the majority of such due almost entirely to Stiller’s larger-than-life, go-for-broke turn as the movie’s broadly-conceived villain. (Stiller is so good here, in fact, that one’s interest admittedly does flag when the emphasis is placed on the kids’ exploits.) And while the picture admittedly suffers from an overly lackadaisical and somewhat underwhelming midsection, Heavy Weights builds towards a satisfying third act focused mostly on the protagonists’ revenge-fueled antics – with the impact of this stretch undoubtedly enhanced by Stiller’s increasingly frantic performance. By the time the feel-good (albeit somewhat padded-out) climax rolls around, Heavy Weights has confirmed its place as a decent-enough endeavor that’d hardly be worth mentioning were it not for Stiller’s superb, scene-stealing efforts (ie without him, the movie generally comes off as a generic summer-camp comedy).

**1/2 out of ****