Heavy Weights

Judd Apatow is best known for "Knocked Up," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and other raunchy sex comedies, but back in the day, he wrote a little comedy about a boy sent off to fat camp for the summer. "Heavy Weights" is a hilariously quotable comedy for kids that teaches valuable lessons about living healthily and valuing people of all shapes and sizes.

"Heavy Weights" follows Nicholas (David Goldman), an overweight kid whose parents sign him up for Camp Hope, a summer fat camp. Camp Hope has just been bought out by a psychotic self-help coach Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller) who is testing out his weight-loss program on the campers and ruling the camp with an iron fist. No junk food, too much exercise and humiliating athletic competitions with the nearby sports camp push the campers to take matters into their own hands and take back the camp.

Ben Stiller is hilarious as health nut Tony Perkis, but the chubby campers deliver the movie's best one-liners. When one of the counselors asks the boys what they learned today, they reply, "Never put Twinkies on pizza." (Fun fact: Kenan Thompson from the current cast of "Saturday Night Live" is among the film's child stars.)

Tucked in amongst the laughs, though, there are a few moments that will ring true for kids struggling with weight issues. An awkward formal dance with a nearby girl's camp also brings out some of the campers' self-esteem issues, and Nicholas tells a kindly camp counselor that he wishes the camp still had go-karts because he has always wanted to go really fast. "I'm so slow," he sighs, "and it would've been nice to go fast for once."

"Heavy Weights" does not advocate that kids stay overweight, but the story teaches kids to make healthy choices and love people for who they are, not what they look like. In overweight America, the message of "Heavy Weights" is more important for kids than ever, and for everyone else, "Heavy Weights" is an early Apatow classic.