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★★★★
Directed by: David Wain
Written by: Michael Showalter, David Wain
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks and Janeane Garofalo
Throwback Film Review by: Rachel Pullen
Wet Hot American Summer (2001) Film Review
Remember last week when we spoke about the glory that was Bio-Dome, and Pauly Shore was a real person, not someone I dreamed up? Yeah, I do, well it turns out a lot of you, my loyal servant readers, had also not heard of Bio-Dome!! And it got me to thinking, how many other obscure comedy gems do I know of, that you may not know of, that soon you may know of because I do? The answer is some, you know about some.
One of my fav’s and unknown loves of my life is Wet Hot American Summer, a film so pointless, so directionless, so goddamn crazy that it cannot be compared to anything else - well it can but we will get to that later.
The film tells the tale of a group of camp counsellors and the things they get up to on the last day of camp, things that include confessions of love, losing kids on a boating trip, taking drugs in a crack den and scientific experiments, oh and a talent show, which I think is meant to be the point B in the scriptwriting, but there is also the science experiment that climaxes at the same point so who knows? Either way, we follow this loveable gang as they try to round up all their unfinished business before they leave camp.
Straight off the bat you’re screaming, “Hey! This film sounds like a rip off of that movie Meatballs which starred Bill Murry before he got super famous.” and you would be somewhat right, but only because it's in a camp and some people were in this before they got super famous, i.e Paul Rudd, who plays the bad boy of the movie and wears a denim jacket, because that’s how you rebel in the 80s. But unlike Meatballs this film is way wackier, I mean really, wacky, for example, there is a can of vegetables that can talk and a man who is in love with a refrigerator, need I say more?
Wet Hot American Summer is absolute nostalgia for anyone who lived through the 80s or even summer camp, absolute laughs for people who like obscure comedy, and anyone who just likes seeing actors in their youth, all smooth and hair-free, or cans of vegetables talk, whatever floats your boat.
And even though I would class this as a rather obscure movie, once it was put on Netflix it became quite the cult classic, so much so that it had a Netflix spin-off series following the councillors into their adult years…hmm they were not so smooth but hey, it still was good watching.
So, what have we learned while at summer camp?
You can be in love with a fridge if you want.
You can talk to cans of food if you want.
And you can hate kids and work in a summer camp if you really want.
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