“Woah, you’re a master Vic!”
“I’m gonna go fondle my sweaters.”
“I said no!”
The reason why I’m starting this recommendation with a bunch of quotes, cos that’s what you’re gonna be doing for the next few months.
Wet Hot American Summer from the strange, brilliant minds of David Wain and Michael Showalter takes the already bizarre and baffling summer camp films of the 80s such as Sleepaway Camp and The Burning and injects pitch-perfect parodies of characters, conventions and clichés. Set entirely on the last day of camp, the film captures a hilarious and sweet sense of nostalgic celebration of youth (by casting 30 year-olds as children). You’ll be signing up for Camp America within minutes of finishing the film. You know, if you’re one of those pricks. The film is an incredible time capsule in so many brilliant actors’ lives; Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler – the list goes on and on. Also available on Netflix is the documentary Hurricane of Fun, showing the wonderful, tumultuous shoot on an actual summer camp. Everyone looks like they’re having an absolute blast, and it translates so wonderfully on screen. This film feels like the blooper reel would be seven hours long.
I will pay so much money to see all of it.
Along with their incredible rom-com farce They Came Together, Wain and Showalter have crafted my favourite style of comedy – absolute absurdist nonsense. To parody a cliche, they elevate it to extremes. Profane and bizarre lines come out of nowhere, character twists and traits are over-the-top and nonsensical – they are committed to make every single moment funny in whatever way they can. In fact, the weaker parts of this movie are the scenes which rely on a more conventional style of comedy, you’re just eagerly waiting for something stupid and ridiculous to be thrown in your face.
It’s a bit weird parodying something that never took itself seriously one bit. Camp movies themselves are weird, confused pieces of junk; strangely exploitative, completely trashy and the worst time-capsule of 80s America. The obsessions with sex, sports and pranks are hyper-charged with absurdity, and they so clearly enjoy mocking them to brilliant results. But Wain and Showalter evidently adore these films – and want to celebrate their absurdities, gleefully mocking them by elevating their stupid nature to new brilliant heights. Almost as if they are giving them a new breath of life.
The costumes are superb, the hairstyles are embarrassing, the music is brilliant. Highlights include the most terrifyingly absurd stand-up set captured on film, an action-packed white-water raft rescue scene, and the most exasperated tidying Paul Rudd has ever done. At a tight 97 minutes, this film just will not stop giving you jokes. Some of them aren’t even jokes. They’re just strange noises and funny faces.
Like me.
So, settle down, tuck yourself in, get comfortable, grab some friends, grab some food, grab some drinks, and laugh your head off. And once you’ve finished, sit in content that you’ve watched all that Wain and Showalter have to offer.
Or have you?
Fifteen years later, the Netflix original series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp was released, with every cast member returning to throw themselves back into the brilliant weirdness everyone, including themselves, fell in love with over the years. What’s even more perfect is that it’s a prequel hat makes no effort to hide how everyone has aged fifteen years, so now we have 40 year olds playing children. It’s four hours of hilarious, absurd characters and ridiculously convoluted plot-lines, broadening its horizons to tackle more of the fascinations of the 80s; rock-and-roll legends, corporations crushing the small guy, Reagan era nuclear power, and most importantly an electronic-synth original musical. All of the craziness is back, bigger than ever, and although it doesn’t exactly capture the sweetness of the original, it successfully enough revisits what we loved about it.
So after you watch that, you’ve watched all Wet Hot American Summer has to offer.
Or have you?
August 4th. Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later. Make it your beeswax to be there.
Netflix Obscure 