Heavy (1996)
Victor is a cook who works in a greasy roadside restaurant owned by his mother, Dolly. It's just the two of them, a waitress named Delores, and a heavy drinking regular, Leo. But things change when Callie, a beautiful college dropout, shows up as a new waitress and steals Victor's heart. But Victor is too shy to do anything about it, and too self-consciously overweight to dream of winning Callie away.
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One of my all time favorites.
good back-story, and good acting
Absolutely Fantastic
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Victor Modino (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is the overweight cook working at his mother Dolly (Shelley Winters)'s bar and restaurant. Callie (Liv Tyler) is the new hire joining Delores (Deborah Harry) as waitress. Callie is a beautiful college drop-out with possessive boyfriend Jeff. She catches the painfully shy Victor's attention. Dolly lovingly keeps Victor suppressed. Leo (Joe Grifasi) is the local barfly who has feelings for Delores.Victor is painfully passive. In many ways, the passivity infects a lot of the movie's tone. Its quiet and slow pace is endearing in some aspects and also frustrating in others. The acting is well-suited. This is an indie with characters pulled from a roadside café. There is a dark side to the movie but it's never really fully realized. It goes down a darker path but goes far enough with it. It's a very nice indie.
The fact that "Cosmopolitan" magazine wrote this movie was "terrific" should have warned me to stay away but, like a sap, I gave it a look. What a waste of a trip to the rental store back in the late '90s. "Horrible" would have been a better one-word description of this profane-laden soap opera about a bunch of losers at a diner. Well, if you are a loser and like to watch people moping around like the main character in this movie - a fat momma's boy - watching a story that really has little plot or substance, this is your cup of tea. It does one thing, though: it will depress you, and a lot of sickos out there like movies that depress them. Go figure. They can relate to this "realistic" story, sad to say.I would have more compassion, but the characters in here, almost all of them, are nothing but annoying. No wonder "Cosmo" loved it.
Strong performances and great restraint make Heavy a deftly handled, beautiful and subtly moving piece. Despite the apparent futility of Victor's interest in Callie, they're both changed in ways which are worth seeing. Aside from Evan Dando's slight awkwardness, the acting in this film is understated and very believable - Shelley Winters is warm and careworn, even Debbie Harry manages to blend in to the low-key scenery. Beautifully shot and directed, with a superb score from Thurston Moore, "Heavy" is a piece of cinema rather than a story shoe-horned into a screenplay. This won't satisfy anyone looking for simple plot and resolution, but for the rest of us there's a lot to admire.
Yeah this movie *was* a bit wierd... I'm not quite sure I can adequately describe it but it was a times a little too 'quiet' for my liking - and often times very dark and sinister (not that that is neccessarily a bad thing.)I suppose if you're a Liv Tyler fan (which I am) I would reccomend this.I'd say it's deffinitely a 'made-for-TV' kinda film...I give it a 2 out of 5 stars