Heavy (1995)
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86% of critics liked it
(28 reviews) -
70% of users liked it
(1,547 ratings)
This character drama, set in a local pub in rural New York State, focuses on the lives, thoughts, and emotions of a group of social outcasts. The lead misfit is Victor, a shy and very rotund man in his '30s who works as a pizza maker in a roadside inn. His mother, Dolly owns the establishment.… More This character drama, set in a local pub in rural New York State, focuses on the lives, thoughts, and emotions of a group of social outcasts. The lead misfit is Victor, a shy and very rotund man in his '30s who works as a pizza maker in a roadside inn. His mother, Dolly owns the establishment. She dominates his life. The senior waitress there is Dolores, an aging woman with a reputation for being easy. Dolores is resentful when Dolly hires the vivacious teenager Callie, who is in love with Jeff, a garage mechanic. Victor develops a painful crush on Callie and fantasizes about rescuing her from a life with Jeff. To help himself, he begins to diet and enrolls at a chef school. His mother becomes suddenly ill. Then Delores makes a pass at him, but he doesn't respond. He does however, feel emboldened to make a play for Callie. His actions lead him into a new world of expression. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Directed By
- James Mangold
- Genres
- Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Jun 7, 1996 Wide
- On DVD
- Sep 21, 1999
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
A small, quiet miracle of a movie in which tenderness, compassion and insight combine to create a tension that yields a quality of perception that's almost painful to experience.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
You've been in places like this. You linger over a second cup of coffee and people-watch, trying to guess the secrets of the sad-eyed waitress and the drunk at the bar and the pizza cook who looks like he's serving a sentence.
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Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
Mangold's sympathy is genuine and his refusal to mock or condescend to his characters -- indeed, that may be the point of the film -- is a pleasure.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
Even the film's chanciest moments sustain an overall poignancy.
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Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
Even at 80 minutes, Heavy would have been weighted with redundancies. So you can imagine what happened on the way to making it 105 minutes long.
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Cast
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Pruitt Taylor Vince
as Victor
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Liv Tyler
as Callie
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Shelley Winters
as Dolly
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Deborah Harry
as Delores
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Joe Grifasi
as Leo
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Evan Dando
as Jeff
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Cordis Heard
as Nurse
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David Patrick Kelly
as Grey Man in Hospital
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J.C. MacKenzie
as Gas Man
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Marian Quinn
as Darleene
