I watched Mr. Mom for the first time in years this week (when are we going to get a nice HD version of this on Blu-ray Disc?) and was surprised by a conference room scene where everyone was smoking. My two thoughts were, "Was there really a time when workplaces were like that?" and "You certainly couldn't show that in a movie today." There are many examples of subjects and themes which were commonplace in movies from the past which would seem taboo today. Smoking, sexism, and animal violence are obvious items on this list. But, what about childhood obesity? This has become a hot topic in the news of late, so seeing the movie Heavyweights becomes a somewhat awkward experience.

Gerry Garner (Aaron Schwartz) is looking forward to a fun summer vacation. These plans are dashed when his parents inform him that he's going to Camp Hope, which Gerry is shocked to learn is a fat camp. Gerry is very angry about this until he arrive at the camp and learns that the other campers, including counselors Pat (Tom McGowan) and Tim (Paul Feig), are nice guys. Things get even better when Gerry learns that camp owners, Harvey and Alice Bushkin (Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara), are more interested in the campers having fun than losing weight. Things change when it's announced that the Bushkin's have sold the camp to Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller), a wanna-be fitness guru. Tony turns Camp Hope into more of a boot camp, as he instills crazy policies to make the boys lose weight, while removing all of the fun elements of the camp. The campers find themselves starved for fun and simply starved, so they decide that a revolution is in order.

During one of the extra features found on this Blu-ray Disc, someone says, "Can you believe they're putting Heavyweights out on Blu-ray?" That is an excellent question. And why is this happening? Is anyone clamoring for this movie which was little more than a blip on the radar when it was released 17 years ago? Is it because Ben Stiller is in it and he's since become a big star? Is it because of the presence of current Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson? No, my guess is that it's the fact that Judd Apatow was Co-writer and Executive Producer of the movie and this was a way to bring his first feature film into the spotlight.

As noted above, the most interesting element about watching Heavyweights today is its casual approach to overweight children. It's amazing to see how times have changed. The movie takes a casual approach to the subject matter and it never ridicules the characters. I'm sure that, at the time, the filmmakers felt that they were doing something revolutionary by making a movie about fat characters which didn't make fun of them, and one which sent the message that young people should be happy with who they are. However, when viewed today, it seems very odd that a movie would essentially tell the viewer that it's OK to be overweight. Again, Heavyweights is a fairly innocuous film so when the boys do things like sneak candy into camp, it's no big deal in the abstract, but when viewed in a modern light of knowing that some children don't eat right, it feels weird.

The bottom line with Heavyweights is what you see is what you get. This is aimed at kids who want to see children sticking it to pushy adults. The young actors do a fine job and it's interesting to see Ben Stiller essentially doing a dress rehearsal for his role in Dodgeball. A few of the jokes are humorous and the North Carolina scenery looks great, but if Disney made this movie today, it would play on Disney Channel instead of going to theaters.

Heavyweights did a great job of finding a street with every fast food place on it on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 21 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, but there is some very fine grain on the image at times. The picture shows no defects from the source materials. The colors look good, most notably greens and yellows, and the image is never overly dark or bright, save for a scene which looks like it was shot day for night. (Trust me, you'll be able to spot it.) The daytime exterior scenes look very crisp. The image is fairly well detailed and show nice depth. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 21 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are fairly good and there are a few scenes where we get distinct sounds in the front channels. The surround sound effects show up during the finale, but they are weak for the most part and don't show off individual sounds. I only noted a few examples of the subwoofer getting involved.

The Heavyweights Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY with Judd Apatow, Steven Brill, Allen Covert, Aaron Schwartz, Shawn Weiss, Tom Hodges, and Paul Feig. "The Making of Heavyweights" (25 minutes) is an archival piece from 1995 which contains comments from Apatow and Stiller, and other members of the cast. The featurette offers a nice amount of on-set footage and we get to see some scenes being shots. The interviews give background on Stiller's preparation for the role and the film's production. The Disc contains 32 DELETED & EXTENDED SCENES which run 95 minutes. I guess this means that an entire other movie was shot. The easiest way to classify is more of the same, as it contains no new characters or subplots. There are some clearly new scenes here, but they wouldn't have added to the movie. "Where Are They Now?" is a 14-minute featurette which catches up with Aaron Schwartz, Shaun Weiss, Cody Burger, David Goldman, and Max Goldblatt, who reminisce about the film. "Video Chat: Judd & Kenan" (8 minutes) is a modern-day computer talk with the writer and the actor. "Can you believe they're putting Heavyweights out on Blu-ray?" Exactly. "Super 8" (9 minutes) is a reel of blurry on-set footage with no sound. "Judd's Art Project" (2 minutes) is simply a series of still images showing Apatow making angry faces. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film.