A spoof of late 70s, early 80s teen camp movies, may at first seem like an odd choice of movie genre to spoof at this late date. What made the writers of this movie decide on that is surely a mystery. What is not a mystery, is just how funny and accurately this movie turned out to be. Hilariously faithful, while sending up the genre at the same time, this movie is well-paced, with an extraordinarily funny script, and a generally well-rounded cast. It certainly stands out in this summer of B-movies. At least this movie knows it is a B-movie, and it revels in its B-ness.
The plot is as simple as the plot of those movies it is spoofing. It's the last day of camp and there's a lot going on as campers and counselors prepare to end their summer. There's the big game against the evil and rich camp; a hilariously cut short competition which is a tribute and a slam against every underdog team wins out movie, from The Bad News Bears to The Mighty Ducks. Summer love between the counselors, including the requisite 'good girl'/'bad boy' relationship, and of course the camp slut. An end of summer rafting trip which nearly ends in 'tragedy'. A trip into town, which is one of the funniest scenes in the movie, which shows the counselors progress from drinking a few beers, to robbing old ladies, to smoking pot, and eventually flopped out in an abandoned house, shooting up. A scene which culminates upon their return to camp, when asked, 'So how was your trip to town?' To which the reply comes back, 'Oh, it's great to get away from camp. Even for just an hour.' And finally the whole thing culminates with a talent show, which is taken very, very seriously by its Producer, and its Director/Choreographer. Let me not forget to mention that Skylab is also crashing to Earth, targeted directly at the Mess Hall where the talent show is being staged.
This incredibly silly plot escapes from being absurd, by the grace of a very talented cast. Led by Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce, and accompanied by mostly unknowns, apart from Paul Rudd as the resident bad boy counselor, and Molly Shannon as the recently divorced woman who finds solace in a 12-year-old camper with a great future as a counselor, this group makes the most of every joke, with only a few poor performances, which hardly detract from the overall jokes with which this movie inundated.
It helps of course that the cast is all given stock characters to play and spoof. There's the aforementioned bad boy, with the penchant for ditching campers on the side of the road when they see something he's done that they shouldn't have seen. The camp slut, who sleeps with nearly all the counselors (male and female), and even at least one of the campers. The sensitive male counselor who falls in love with the good girl, who naturally, is in love with the bad boy, also makes an appearance. There's the party counselors, the ones who carouse, and sneak behind trees to watch the girl counselors swimming in the lake, in an inspired innocent nod to those teen movies, they get excited watching a scene which would probably garner a PG rating, were it to appear in a movie today. And of course, as all good movies made in the 70s had, this movie has the emotionally scarred, Vietnam Vet.
A cross between Meatballs, Monty Python, and the Airplane! movies, Wet Hot American Summer is easily the funniest film of 2001. And at the reported cost of $1 million, it's easily the best bargain as well.
