Heavyweights – We’re Feeling Skinny, Tony

Heavyweights is a kid friendly take on the the traditional slobs versus snobs trope. In it, a group of kids are supposed to be headed to enjoy an awesome summer; but once there, they discover that the beloved owners of Camp Hope were forced to sell to an obnoxious fitness freak, Tony Perkis.

It's Perkis' mission to whip these kids into shape—only not for their own benefit. He's trying to sell an infomercial about his patented Perkis System.

It then becomes the mission of the titular Heavyweights to take back their summer from the unstable Perkis.

Hijinks, hilarity, and a fair bit of sadism ensue. Full of mixed messages about excess weight, the movie can be a tonal rubber band. And Heavyweights is also extremely 90s, which as we all know, was a lawless ass time.

Hence why it received general poor reviews and struggled to make a dent at the box office. Despite that, though, it is generally considered a cult classic—especially since Perkis is such a memorable character.

Now, sit back, launch a Fat Randy's IPA from Holidaily into the stratosphere with the Blob, and help get those deli meats off your friend's back! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Chumpzilla, Capt. Cash, the J-Man, and Bling Blake are high on Perkis Power!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – They never met a hot dog they didn't like... until now! (00:00)
• Lingering Questions – The Double Turn Podcast cheats to win the Apache Relay, and then we debate who the true villain of the film is. (31:03)
• The "Perkis System" Trivia Challenge – I challenge the field to trivia about the movie. (45:19)
• Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up: We kickoff Hops and Gridiron Flops with Robert Rodriguez's 1998 gem, The Faculty! (55:33)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—Perkis' striking similarity to White Goodman and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, Amazon Music, and more!