Bigger

Film biography about a pioneer of strength training is definitely worth seeing.

Montreal-born Joe Weider (1919-2013) became a pioneer of the bodybuilding movement through specialist magazines such as "Muscle & Fitness", which also included early bodybuilders such as Steve Reeves (portrayed in the film by Jared Motyl) and Reg Park ( Billy Reilich) could become film stars in Italian sword and sandal films. With the invention of the Mr. Olympia competition, which a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calum Von Moger) from Austria won several times, Weider increased his popularity and the marketing of bodybuilding even further.

Tyler Hoechlin (The Domestics) and Julianne Hough are convincing in the leading roles as the Weider couple.

When I was a kid growing up and got into weight training, Weider's name was everywhere, and it still is. The film does a good job of painting Weider's formative years, but once it gets into the actual nitty-gritty of showing how the IFBB grew, the inaccuracies grow by leaps and bounds. As an example, the IFBB was founded in 1946, not 1951. Arnold, when he came to the US, barely spoke English, and even then, his accent was incredibly thick. (It still is, but he speaks English far better now).

My biggest quibble is with the acting and the script...both aren't great. Julianne Hough is pretty and does okay as Betty Brosmer (Weider), but as for the others...Tyler Hoechlin tries hard, but he fails to get that rather nasal intonation the real Joe Weider had. Kevin Durand is a decent actor, but here, he's just a foamin'-at-the-mouth rabid anti-Semite, and his character shows zero depth. Same for the rest of the cast, although I give Calum von Moger (Arnold S) credit for trying.

The inaccuracies--as mentioned before as well as by other commenters--continue with a lot of the movie glossing over the real way Weider and his brother worked. It was a cutthroat business, but the film fails to show how Weider managed to screw over other bodybuilders when it came to contracts and paying residuals for photo shoots. It does nothing to address the problem of steroids or the various legal scandals Weider went through. In short, it's a one-sided, rose-colored love song to the vast and, IMO, very flawed Weider empire.

As a biography, Bigger hearkens back to the days when Hollywood biopics cranked out knights in shining armor using whatever mixture of fact and fiction they thought would fill the seats and send everybody home happy. Joe Weider is a presented as a blemish-free altruist who only wants to help the world become a fitter place; various inconvenient aspects of Joe's private and professional lives - including the timing of his two marriages and the existence of his daughter, legal difficulties stemming from highly exaggerated claims of his products' effectiveness, questionable treatment of business partners, and strong presence in the gay-oriented "beefcake magazine" market of the 1950s and early 60s with titles like Adonis and Body Beautiful - are either glossed over or ignored completely. Meanwhile, the villainous foil "Bill Hauk", officially claimed to be a composite of several real-life characters but pretty clearly a representation of U.S. Olympic weightlifting coach and rival muscle mag publisher Bob Hoffman, is a cartoonishly evil, racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, violent thug. Exec produced by nephew Eric Weider, the film plays like the Weider Empire's bid for Joe's sainthood.

Historical inaccuracies and omissions aside, as a movie it just isn't very satisfying. The years flip by so quickly it's difficult to build up much momentum, and we're often left wondering exactly how last year's big dilemma played out. Tyler Hoechlin as Joe does a capable job mimicking Weider's distinctive Polish/Yiddish/Quebecois accent but tacks on an awkwardly stilted manner of speech; oddly, both of these are absent in the always-classy Robert Forster's portrayal of Joe as an old man. The labored delivery combined with Joe's single-minded obsession with fitness makes him appear to be a sort of Rain Man of bodybuilding, and only succeeds in distancing the audience from the character. Repeated anti-Semitic attacks and accusations of homosexuality fail to build the viewer's sympathy after the first few instances, with a mounting array of epithets not heard for a while in a non-Tarentino movie.

The film tries hard to present Joe Weider's life story as a classic David-versus-Goliath struggle. But given the ending we already know, it's pretty clear that this David's goal all along was to become an even bigger Goliath.

I'm not so much into bodybuilding, though I do believe it's not a bad thing to keep in shape in general. Now I reckon some might have been aware of the story of the two brothers that are being highlighted here. I knew nothing about them and even though I am probably not the biggest draw this movie is trying to get, I was more than entertained.

Add to that a very well known figure coming into this very late in the game. That episode almost seems comical ... but the movie overall has a lot of comedic overtones. It actually plays between comedy and drama and walks that fine line quite neatly and with quite the confidence. The pacing is good, but some may find it a bit too slow and predictable. Still overall more than a decent effort and movie, even for those not in tune with what this is about .. because in the end, it is about believing in ones dreams and passions ...

Huge bb fan and in the industry so I was excited for this movie. Just felt like there was no crescendo. Interesting story however accurate it actually is. Would have been fun to see more of the Arnold/frank/Sergio competition. It was just a blip in the movie. I know it's about Weider but still that time was defined by the Oak.