The Cult of Heavyweights
By Richard Porten
On February 17, 2005, ten years after being released in theaters, Karen Ellis of Central Coast, CA, posted an online review of the DVD of the film Heavyweights on Amazon.com. Ellis gave the DVD five stars (the highest rating) and labeled the Disney comedy about a fat-kid camp a “great kids movie.”
It would be easy to consider this an anomaly. However, this phenomenon goes deeper than that. Exploring the customer reviews section of the website reveals that 45 people have commented on Heavyweights, with only two bad reviews. The average customer review for the film is four and a half stars. The positive comments call the film “a masterpiece,” “the best movie ever written,” “a classic,” and even “cinematic magic.”
Who are these people who have such an irrational appreciation for such a random and unremarkable film, and who feel the need to express this appreciation through online customer reviews? Indeed, there is something odd about lavishing praise on a movie no one cares about and which was not even particularly good. Even the presence of Ben Stiller in the film is no excuse. Since so little is known about this segment of our population, I can only speculate. However, the customer reviews on Amazon.com provide some clues about these unique individuals and their unnatural obsession.
Firstly, it’s not simply that this is a group of overweight people who like Heavyweights for its positive portrayal of fat characters. Many reviews cite this aspect of the film as one of its flaws. Even the descriptions of the film stars are telling, like one review which calls the kids “fatties.” While it may have something to do with Ben Stiller, who performs as a camp counselor, these people’s fixation on Heavyweights cannot be boiled down that easily. Stiller has been in films and other projects which are certainly more notable as well as funnier.
These online reviewers seem to have a sincere appreciation for this film. The tone of their comments is not ironic or in jest (except possibly for Rose P. Bell, who calls the film an “orgasmic movie-going experience”). Rather, the fans of this movie seem to truly think that not only is this film good, but that it is great.
Looking at what else these people have reviewed on Amazon.com does not help in gaining a greater understanding of Heavyweights fans. No single interest exists that links these people other than their appreciation for this movie. Richard M. enjoys Pantera and other heavy metal groups. Robert Fernandez of California likes Pokemon. J. Lucas of MA watches horror films and the National Lampoon Vacation series. Jfriedl@emory.edu seems to be familiar with the music of Leonard Cohen.
There does not seem to be any line connecting these people. They come from all over the United States and have vastly different tastes and interests. Yet, for some reason, the love of a movie about fat kids at summer camp unites them all.
Even more confusing are the people who only post one review. It’s true that some people write endless amounts of reviews (tvtv3 of Sorento, IL, who gave Heavyweights four stars, has reviewed 1,161 products ranging from the Buster Keaton film College to Kellogg’s Frosted Cherry Pop Tarts). This could explain how some people would have found themselves commenting on Heavyweights. However, the idea of feeling the need only once in a person’s life to express their opinion on such a forgettable and unimportant film is bizarre.
Take, for example, the case of Paul McGloklin of San Diego, CA, who, on December 28, 2002, made his single Amazon review, where he called Heavyweights “perhaps the most underrated comedy of the nineties.” Or look at Barrett Dodd of Dalton, GA, who two months earlier called the same film “an instant classic for the whole family.” It’s possible that some of these people with only one review posted other comments on Amazon.com under different names. Yet these two people took the time to type in their full names and the cities in which they live. It would have made sense for them to sign back on in order to post a review of another product. However, these two people did not, which suggests the possibility that these two men felt a need to comment on Heavyweights and only Heavyweights.
An interesting side to these people can be found on the Heavyweights Movie Media Club at heavyweights.bravepages.com, which is mentioned in one of the customer reviews. While the site is currently under construction (the webpage ominously reveals that there are “MAJOR changes coming VERY SOON!”), at the very bottom of the page are links to a number of porn websites. It’s hard to say how sites like Round and Brown, Euro Sex Parties, and Cum Fiesta can be related to a Disney film geared primarily towards young people. The link to a gay site called Boys First Time raises a number of questions as well.
Putting all of this information together, there is still very little that we can know about these people who have some kind of fascination with the movie Heavyweights. There does not seem to be any way of gaining a deeper understanding of these Heavyweights fans from the information found on Amazon.com. All that can be known for sure is that these people are out there somewhere and that they are not afraid to let their voices be heard in the world of online customer reviews.
Richard Porten is a junior cinema & photography major. You can e-mail him at rporten1@ithaca.edu. He gives this article five stars and recommends it to parents with young children.