DVD Review: Wet Hot American Summer (B-)

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Directed by David Wain
Starring Janeane Garafolo, David Hyde Pierce and Michael Showalter
MPAA: R
Grade: B-

Review by Bobby Nashville

I have to admit that I like goofy summer camp movies. Meatballs is my favorite but I also liked Up The Creek, a completely mindless movie starring Tim Matheson. The point is that I am up on all of the cliches of the genre: doomed summer romances, insecure counselors that gain confidence by end of summer, and of course, the one isolated kid that nobody likes at first, but ultimately becomes the camp hero. These are silly films targeted at preteens on summer vacation with nothing better to do than watch a movie about kids at summer camp. At the same time, summer camp flicks can be a great, light hearted diversion from the everyday.

But let's face it, they are also pretty darn stupid. That's probably why Wet Hot American Summer works so well as a parody film. There are so many clichés and stupid plotlines to make fun of in this genre that targets are wide open. Director David Wain takes a lot of comedic shots in Wet Hot American Summer (similar in style to the Airplane! series) and while not every joke worked for me, a couple of them did make me spit out my beer laughing.

It's the last day of summer camp at Camp Firewood, circa 1980, and everyone needs to wrap up the things they've been scared to do all summer. Coop, the king of nerds, is in love with Katie, and its his last chance to make her fall in love with him. Katie is in love with the mindless Andy, who is cheating on her, but she doesn't care. Beth (Janeane Garafolo) has a crush on scientist David Hyde Pierce. Just to make things really weird there's also Gene (played by Christopher Meloni), the camp cook who takes advice from a talking can of mixed vegetables. This goofiness is accentuated by soft-rock anthems (Loverboy, Journey, etc.) that make the summer camp movie even more camp, if you follow me here.

The reviews I have read for this are all over the map, either calling it mindless garbage or side-splittingly funny. Its actually both, so you will either find it hilarious or painful, based on your taste for silly parody films. Written, directed and starring the cast of the funny but failed TV show The State, Wet Hot American Summer is stupid funny. If you liked The State, stupid summer camp movies or the ubiquitous Janeane Garafolo, spend a couple hours at Camp Firewood, you might just have a few laughs.

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