I'm still not sure what to make of this one. "Wet Hot American Summer" chronicles the final day of summer camp in 1981. Knowing that premise, and knowing that it was a quasi-reunion of the comedy troupe from "The State" (which aired on MTV a decade ago, and once on CBS), I was expecting a "Dazed and Confused" spoof of the '80s "Meatballs"-type camp flicks. Instead of spoofing those films, it's like one of them the fact that it takes place in '81 is only incidental.
The cast is broad, diverse and they have incredible chemistry. I feel the need to say this because without all of the big and small-screen players, the script would not have worked at all. Some of the scenes and characters are consistently funny. Paul Rudd, for example, gives one of his funniest performances ever as a horny counselor who's too busy playing tongue-tag with beautiful girls to care about the safety of the campers (and what he does to two campers who know too much is absolutely riotous!). Other characters get off to a good start, then collapse under silliness. Ken Marino as the smooth-talking stud who's really a virgin, chews the scenery at first but his storyline ultimately fades to utter stupidity (and he's noticeably absent for a good chunk of the film). And then there's Chris Meloni as the Vietnam vet turned camp cook, and Molly Shannon as the whiny divorcée art director. Both actors have a few funny lines (though Meloni's funniest scenes, where he berates a camper about corn, were cut out) but there's a lot of total stupidity to their parts.
Despite the film's shortcomings, I was completely with it for the first hour. There were a few times when I thought, "this is inane," but something funny was waiting in the next scene. In the last half hour though, it loses all point and direction, collapsing under the weight of a lot of overlong, unfunny skits, beginning when camp counselor Janeane Garofolo pointlessly destroys the nurse's office. From there on in it's all downhill until we reach the final scene a scene that's so anti-Hollywood that it's fantastic.
A good time-waster for a dull TV night, but really nothing more.
The cast is broad, diverse and they have incredible chemistry. I feel the need to say this because without all of the big and small-screen players, the script would not have worked at all. Some of the scenes and characters are consistently funny. Paul Rudd, for example, gives one of his funniest performances ever as a horny counselor who's too busy playing tongue-tag with beautiful girls to care about the safety of the campers (and what he does to two campers who know too much is absolutely riotous!). Other characters get off to a good start, then collapse under silliness. Ken Marino as the smooth-talking stud who's really a virgin, chews the scenery at first but his storyline ultimately fades to utter stupidity (and he's noticeably absent for a good chunk of the film). And then there's Chris Meloni as the Vietnam vet turned camp cook, and Molly Shannon as the whiny divorcée art director. Both actors have a few funny lines (though Meloni's funniest scenes, where he berates a camper about corn, were cut out) but there's a lot of total stupidity to their parts.
Despite the film's shortcomings, I was completely with it for the first hour. There were a few times when I thought, "this is inane," but something funny was waiting in the next scene. In the last half hour though, it loses all point and direction, collapsing under the weight of a lot of overlong, unfunny skits, beginning when camp counselor Janeane Garofolo pointlessly destroys the nurse's office. From there on in it's all downhill until we reach the final scene a scene that's so anti-Hollywood that it's fantastic.
A good time-waster for a dull TV night, but really nothing more.