Bigger

My oldest friend (since we were 3) our mothers were best friends. Betty was her aunt. I remember her coming to our house and she attended my sisters wedding. I remember my mother always sending her a birthday card every year and Betty sending Christmas cards with professional fold out pictures of her and husbands friends and family special events and party's they attended that year. Of course Arnold Schwarzenegger would be in some of the pictures. It was always exciting to get them every year. The movie portrayed Betty accurately. She was a loving devoted wife who stood by him until his death. They were not greedy people they supported lots of charities and she still is I'm sure. I only knew what the public knew of Mr. Weider as the man who made muscle-building an Olympic sport event. I never would have known he was such an interesting character. I'm so glad I was able to purchase the movie. I wish my mother was alive to watch it.

Who can really expect that a documentary about the life of a famous magazine publisher can be that really exciting to watch? It isn't as if telling a story about two brothers starting a fitness magazine and the IFBB is going to be full of action packed scenes. This isn't an Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary. Well, I guess some viewers saying it's boring will expect that. A fictional character named Bill Hauk, a racist bigot who is a competitive publisher against Weider was most likely created to actually add some more action and drama to the story. It was very predictable and expected that many viewers will start judging the bodybuilder, Calum Von Moger, who played Arnold Schwarzenegger, on his Arnold accent and body. I guess that must be an easy role to fill by a professional actor according to some viewers. For a film that would most likely not been done by anyone else or at least not anyone with a huge budget, Bigger is a good movie to watch especially if you had followed Weider, his magazines and the IFBB during your life. If you never heard of Joe Weider or care about the history of bodybuilding then you may not have any connection to this film and be the one to give it a bad review because it isn't an interesting story to you and isn't filled with Grammy winning actors.

Great movie the whole family can watch!

I love good bodybuilding documentaries. There's Pumping Iron, The Golden Age of Bodybuilding, and even Generation Iron (2 was okay and 3 was the worst). I really enjoyed Bigger's intro and plot line of Joe Weider. How accurate it was I would need to do more research but I thought they portrayed a realistic look at how bodybuilding started in America as sort of a cultish following that was for homosexuals and weird guys. Then Joe made it into something real and fantastic for everyone. However, the casting of bodybuilders was ridiculous. It was nice that Sergio Jr. played his father, but the physiques are just not even close to the same. Calum von moger was probably the closest you could get to Arnold, but not a great actor. The other casting, trash. Arash rahbar as frank zane? Arash is one of my favorite modern bodybuilders, but frank zane?? Come on. The wigs were trash, the accents were trash, the training scenes were trash, the depiction of Jack Lalane, one of the most important role models of the time period, trash. I think a lot of time was put into the main characters and plot, but the subplot and supporting actors were rushed and watered down as an afterthought. Once they started showing Arnold and the classic bodybuilders of the era, it was over for me. It's like their budget ran out because they were paying these modern bodybuilders too much for their role/names in the movie. Atleast buy them some acting classes. Lastly, when a picture of Frank Columbu comes on the screen and they claim that the most famous Italian bodybuilder in history is NORWEIGAN, I can't help but vomit a little bit in my mouth. The history of bodybuilding is rich and diverse. This movie tried to portray that with the importance of Weider's jewish heritage, but they butcher it with every other name and face in the movie. Those guys mattered as well. Arnold's poor background mattered just as much. Franco's background mattered. How they came over to America at Joe Weider's request and made a name for themselves mattered. None of that was covered, just glossed over. I just wasn't satisfied after finishing the movie. I felt like I needed to watch Pumping Iron a few times just to get the satisfaction I wanted to have out of this movie.

I bought the Bigger DVD, because of my lifelong interest in resistance training and all things connected to include bodybuilding and competitive lifting. I actually read the back and forth comments between Joe Weider and Bob Hoffman as noted in each of their respective magazines.I was never a big fan of Joe Weider per say, due primarily to his self serving embellishments and elevated ego, but I do have to give him credit for separating bodybuilding from competitive lifting, and for promoting some of the major achievers, most specifically Arnold Schwarzenegger. Knowing the full story, I was somewhat disappointed in the film in that it blurred the lines with some facts and omitted essential facts that should have been better explained. However, with a 113 minute movie, I realize everything cannot be included.Arnold Schwarzenegger was presented as a one dimensional oath in the film, when in fact, he was very intelligent and used Weider to his advantage, and patronized him when necessary. In the movie, Weider sees a picture of Arnold, immediately hopped on a plane, flew to Austria, found Arnold working out in a crude environment, brought him back to the US and personally trained him to win the Mr. Olympia. The truth is that Arnold was already accomplished at that time having one the Mr. Universe, and had lived in Germany and England, with good professional connections in both countries.Given these issues, the movie is still worth watching, most specifically for those who with a previous knowledge of Weider and his impact on the sport of bodybuilding.

Its a strange thing to say, but the person that fought to bring bodybuilding, exercise equipment and gymnasiums to your town - the film just didn't show the passion, drive and determination that Joe Weider had.Joe Weider was behind HUNDREDS of modern day products, your health food stores with vitamin pills and protein powders were amongst the first products he brought out.A lot of the training equipment was based on his ideas and he introduced Arnold Schwarzenegger to the world and he became the highest paid box office star.Watching this film - none of that comes through !!!!

I've always been fascinated by Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wildly successful career in bodybuilding. This film tells the story.

Wasnt bought for me

Ich hab mit Bodybuilding eigentlich nichts am Hut, doch hat mich der Trailer irgendwie gleich angesprochen, sodass ich den Film unbedingt sehen wollte. Und ich wurde auch nicht enttäuscht.Gute Schauspieler (Tyler Hoechlin überzeut wieder einmal mehr in seiner Darstellung) und auch der Rest vom Cast ist wirkklich gut besetzt.Auch wenn anscheinend nicht alles ganz getreu nacherzählt wurde, ist dies - finde ich - eine wirklich ganz hervorragende Biografie geworden.Für mich hat sich der Film auf alle Fälle gelohnt !!!

If they could have found a way to get Arnold ( calum von moger ) in more of this movie, the popularity if this film would have been much greater. He did such a great job.