Heavy (film)

Heavy is a 1995 American independent drama film written and directed by James Mangold, in his directorial debut. It stars Liv Tyler, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Shelley Winters, and Deborah Harry. The plot focuses on an unhappy overweight cook (Vince) whose life is changed after an enchanting college drop-out (Tyler) begins working as a waitress at his and his mother's roadside tavern. The film explores themes of loneliness, false hope, unrequited love, and self-worth.

Mangold wrote the screenplay for Heavy while attending filmmaking seminars at Columbia University and partly based it on real people he knew while growing up in Upstate New York. Filming took place on location in and around Barryville and Hyde Park in 1993; some scenes were filmed at the Culinary Institute of America's campus there. The film features an original soundtrack by Thurston Moore, as well as songs by Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, who also has a minor role in the film.

Heavy premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize and was later screened at Cannes where it competed for the Caméra d'Or. The film received a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on December 29, 1995, and later had a limited release in the United States on June 5, 1996.