Wet Hot American Summer

"Four campers are stuck in the ropes course. I meant to tell you about it yesterday."


I guess I just have a certain sense of humor. This is a movie that a lot of people probably aren't going to quite be able to "get", but those who do will have plenty of fun.

It's the last day of camp at Camp Firewood (heh.) in 1981. Now, seeing as that was the year I was born, I was hesitant that I wouldn't get some of the humor, but rest assured, they are for the most part not making fun of the eighties itself. Most of the humor comes out of the insane characters that populate the camp.

The cast is headed up by the always wonderful Janeane Garofalo as the camp director Beth. She is consistently funny in a rather nutty way. In fact, all the counselors are a little kooky, and most of them spend more time lusting after one another than paying any attention to the kids, which is where a lot of the humor comes from.

Kudos also go out to David Hyde Pierce, who plays the kooky astrophysics professor that lives near the camp. He adds a lot of humor to the film, and also falls in love with Beth.

This is very much an ensemble film, with each character as important as the last. It is also a very insane and crazy film, and in fact, no one is normal in the slightest. Which is good. Watching these nutty characters interact is some of the best bits of the film. It's all very nonsensical!

And any film that's climax has to do with the threat of a rouge piece of Sky Lab crashing into the camp is okay by me.

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