Rating: 6.5/10 --> Good one-time laugh *EDIT* Comedy Rating: 7.2/10 (Comedy's should have their own rating)
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This review is going to be short and sweet. I got bored the other day and saw Wet Hot American Summer was on Netflix Instant Watch, with a little over a three star rating. Now I knew going in that this wasn’t going to be a classic, but the thought of jorts and tube socks got me excited. It's definitely funny to watch actors near 30 years old playing 16-19 year old teenagers. Anyway this is a good one-time-I’m-in-the-mood-for-a-laugh spoof/comedy, though it still doesn’t compare to anything made by Mel Brooks (it must really be good to be the king).
The Summary: Written by David Wain and Michael Showalter and directed by David Wain.
On the last day of Camp Firewood in the summer of 1981, everyone from the campers to the camp director is trying to get some action before they go their separate ways. The camp staff goes through cooky adventures all day, while the camp director tries to seduce the eccentric professor of astrophysics.
The Good: This cast is overloaded with talent: David Hyde Pierce, Janeane Garofalo, Paul Rudd, Michael Showalter, Amy Poehler, Marguerite Moreau, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Ian Black, and Bradley Cooper to name a few. Paul Rudd is hilarious as usual. He plays a ladies-man counselor who doesn’t care about anything. When he’s supposed to be watching kids swimming, he makes out with other female counselors instead, neglecting the campers’ needs. Showalter does a great job of playing the nerdy/awkward kid who wants the hottest girl at camp, Katie (Moreau). I could go on and on about the different actors in this film, but the bottom line is they are all hilarious in their own way.
Party Down Sighting --> Ron Donald is in this movie! (Ken Marino who plays Victor)
The writing at times seemed unstructured, but that’s the nature of a spoof/satire. There are some “what the hell?” moments, but I still found myself laughing quite a bit during the movie. I appreciated how Camp Firewood was an implied Jewish sleep away camp. As a member of the tribe, who attended “Jew Camp” for three years, I could totally relate to the games of capture the flag, water skiing, and consumption of bug juice. One scene that is memorable is when Garofalo is listing Jewish name after Jewish name for kids that need to take the early bus to Boston, and she even names “David Ben-Gurion,” Israel’s first Prime Minister.
The Bad: It’s just nothing special. It’s a good movie, not great, but not terrible. There are some really funny parts, and some not so funny parts. For instance, they get a little raunchy in a scene between gay lovers McKinley (Black) and Ben (Cooper). The scene just didn’t make sense at all. There were a million other ways that they could have shown that the gay relationship was the only one that actually lasted.
Result: If you’re bored watch it. It’ll make you laugh. If you want a mindless movie to watch in the background, this is your film. It won’t wow you, but it won’t disappoint you… at least if you’re a 20 something Jew, who went to “Jew Camp” for a few years, then it’ll be pretty damn funny.
Ok sorry, this wasn’t as short as I planned… My Blog, My Rules.
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