A floppy hat bounces with every enthusiastic step taken by Susan Powter as she pounds the pavement in Las Vegas. The brim obscures her eyes to passersby who may not be looking closely, but her energy cannot be hidden by a hat of any size. She might hop in her car to start driving for a food delivery service before you have time to reach into your pocket to find your phone and ask for a selfie. The aura that Susan Powter (she’s the kind of person where you say their entire, full name) exudes is indescribable and nearly unattainable. For an icon of the fitness world and culture at large, Susan Powter was it in the 1990s. For Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, director Zeberiah Newman re-introduces us to an icon with fervor, love, and patient affection.
I remember the first time that I remember seeing Susan Powter: she was a guest on the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race for an infomercial workout challenge, and unlike seasons that have gone sky high into the double digits, she and RuPaul directed the challenge. She would tell queens over and over again that they need to go over the top. It was just shy of her doling out her trademark, iconic catchphrase, “Stop the Insanity!” What I still remember to this day is how she wanted to help these queens do the best that they possibly could. There was no judgement, no ire. Susan Powter knows how to connect with people whether they are seeking a spot in one of her coveted workout classes or if they are a shy drag queen trying to get through to the next challenge on a reality show.
Susan Powter is an American success story. She built an empire for herself after her husband abandoned her and she gained a large amount of weight and then shed it all off. Her short, buzzed hair was so platinum blonde that it nearly glowed, a beacon crown if I have ever seen one. A tattoo across the top of her chest. “You gotta eat, you gotta breathe, and you gotta move,” is another simply structured phrase that doesn’t feel like it was manufactured by suits in an office. You gravitate towards Susan Powter, because she listens to you. She wants you to be the best version of yourself that you want.
It’s startling to see this icon struggling to find food with nutritional value in the stores she visits in Vegas. ‘One of the things I miss the most was real food,’ she says near the beginning of Newman’s film, as we see her trying to find something healthy to take home. She details how the living conditions of Harbor Island, an area of apartments, affect her mentally, and she trusts us enough to show us where she keeps her stash of cash in her living quarters. It’s startling to hear Susan Powter’s voice crack and shake in several moments throughout Insanity. She has helped so many people that your heart breaks for her in these pockets of conversation.
“I don’t think people went looking for Susan Powter,” Jamie Lee Curtis, a producer says, plainly. The Oscar winner admits that maybe she should have played the icon if a film was ever made (take my money, thank you very much), and a meeting between them is very touching.
Stop the Insanity, ultimately, is a film about trust. She let people into her life who said they would help and take care of her and look out for her, but you can’t ever turn your back on someone whenever they are making a profit off of you. Newman deftly showcases not just how icons are truly real people, but how they, too, can make mistakes and suffer in various ways. Icons can be devastated. Icons can become down on their luck. Stop the Insanity avoids cliche and biography pitfalls because we embrace all of Susan Powter and she doesn’t hold back. Newman is a director whose connection with his central character will always be deeply felt. His short film, Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story (co-directed by Michiel Thomas) carries that same importance of confidence in his bond. It’s almost as if we can feel that he doesn’t start rolling the camera until he knows it’s time.
There is an unshakeable image of workout tapes on the floor of Susan Powter’s quarters. In one’s eyes, they could be seen as forgotten or left behind, but I would argue that they serve as a foundation for our collective consciousness of who this woman is. Susan Powter was tough and whip smart before she got famous. Thanks to Newman’s film, a new generation can be delighted by that determination all over again.
Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter is in select theaters now. It will be available to rent on December 9.
