History Film / Heavyweights

* FriendToAllChildren: Averted; Tony ''tries'' to be this by making himself seem like someone the kids can relate to and never seems to realize that they're terrified of him. When he asked one camper to hug him, it was only just to strip and search him for more fattening foods.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Bushkins are never seen or heard from again after leaving the camp.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Harvey Bushkin says that they were forced to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy. This section of the bankruptcy code is strictly for municipalities. Given that they were forced to sell the camp to Tony, they would have filed under Chapter 7.

Enter the new owner of Camp Hope, Tony Perkis (Stiller), a fitness guru who has plans to make a weight loss infomercial by filming the campers as they lose weight over the summer, and in the name of reaching that goal institutes sweeping reforms to its staff and activities. Tony's methods [[TrainingFromHell quickly go from reasonable to cruel]], and it becomes increasingly obvious to the campers and their concerned councilors that Tony [[SanitySlippage may not be all there in the head]]. The question turns to what will happen when one of them finally reaches their breaking point, because it isn't a matter of if, but ''when'', it'll happen.

** Zigzagged with the councilors, who played no role in overthrowing Tony, but they ''did'' try to help the campers as much as they could. Pat stood up to Tony and was chewed out for it, and given that Tony has already replaced most of the old staff and is eager to get rid of those left, Pat's lucky he didn't get fired. Julie reached out to child welfare, but it would take time to get someone out there to investigate the camp, and Tim contacted a lawyer and was told that without hard evidence there isn't much that could be done. They were in the process of discussing how to get that footage from Kenny the cameraman when Gerry came back and revealed they had taken Tony prisoner. The adults prove their worth ''after'' that point, when Pat challenges the campers to take responsibility for themselves and the campers and staff work together to make Camp Hope fun ''and'' helpful.

'''Tony''': (upset) [[MoodWhiplash Get off the scale]]!

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: None of the campers nor the original counselors at Camp Hope take kindly to Tony's regime and it's easy to see why. He turns Camp Hope from a fun-filled summer getaway to an unpleasant atmosphere where he puts the kids through [[TrainingFromHell cruel and humiliating exercises]] while [[BadBoss verbally abusing or brushing off]] staff who disagree with him. Given how easily Lars was swayed into a HeelFaceTurn Tony doesn't seem to command much loyalty even from his own staff.

* TrueCompanions: Chipmunk Cabin
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Tony

* PointyHairedBoss: '

** Played very straight with Gerry's parents, who brush off and ignore his complaints about how badly Tony is running the camp and assume he's just upset that the fun activities have been removed, but that's not why he's there. At the end of the film when they see what Tony was like and ask why Gerry didn't tell them about this, Gerry doesn't respond but his expression says "I did."

** It is implied the Bushkins, as nice as they were, weren't the best businesspeople, since they had to declare bankruptcy and sell to Tony.

* AdultsAreUseless: Zigzagged -- in the end the campers overthrow Tony themselves, but the adults ''did'' try to help them as much as they could. Pat stood up to Tony and was chewed out for it, and given that Tony has already replaced most of the old staff and is eager to get rid of those left, Pat's lucky he didn't get fired. Julie reached out to child welfare, but it would take time to get someone out there to investigate the camp, and Tim contacted a lawyer and was told that without hard evidence there isn't much that could be done. They were in the process of discussing how to get that footage from Kenny the cameraman when Gerry came back and revealed they had taken Tony prisoner. The adults prove their worth ''after'' that point, when Pat challenges the campers to take responsibility for themselves and the campers and staff work together to make Camp Hope fun ''and'' helpful.

* AdultsAreUseless: Zigzagged -- in the end the campers overthrow Tony themselves, but the adults ''did'' try to help them as much as they could. Pat stood up to Tony and was chewed out for it, and given that Tony has already replaced most of the old staff and is eager to get rid of those left, Pat's lucky he didn't get fired. Julie reached out to child welfare, but it would take time to get someone out there to investigate the camp, and Tim contacted a lawyer but said that without hard evidence there wasn't much that could be done. They were in the process of discussing how to get that footage from Kenny the cameraman when Gerry came back and revealed they had taken Tony prisoner. The adults prove their worth ''after'' that point, when Pat challenges the campers to take responsibility for themselves and the campers and staff work together to make Camp Hope fun ''and'' helpful.

* AdultsAreUseless: Zigzagged -- in the end it's the campers who end up overthrowing Tony themselves, but the adults ''did'' try to help them as much as they could. Pat, Tim, and Julie hate Tony and what he's done to the camp, but only Pat is willing to confront Tony about it. But then he's lucky he didn't get fired for it, since such a thing would be a great excuse for Tony to do it and he's eager to get rid of anyone he didn't personally hire. ​They ask Kenny to help them against Tony with video footage of what he's doing, but Kenny wants money for such a thing since Tony is the one who hired him (and has been stiffing him on his pay, which is likely the reason Kenny is willing to turn on him and wants money to be convinced). Julie had also reached out to child welfare, but it was going to take time for them to send people to investigate the camp. The adults get to prove their worth ''after'' Tony has been taken down, when Pat challenges the campers to take responsibility for themselves and the campers and staff work together to make Camp Hope fun ''and'' helpful.