Review of Meatballs (1979) by Samuel C — 03 Jul 2014

Bill Murray as your head camp counselor? What kind of awesome summer camp experience that would be! That's essentially the premiss behind this prototype 80s teen comedy (sure it was release in 1979, but that's why it's a prototype).

The male counselors all want to bed the female counselors, the nerd counselor (named Spaz) has tape on his glasses, and there is one serious and sensitive storyline (about Murray helping a shy camper, which is the dullest part of the film).

This film was a classic in it's day, but it didn't really age too well. Murray carries the film, and it certainly funny, but the film didn't seem nearly as funny to me as it did when I was 10 years old.

This film was Murray's first major role and this was director Ivan Reitman's ("Twins," "Ghostbusters," "Dave") first major film. Harold Ramis also was a writer on the film, who'd previously worked on Reitman's production of "Animal House" and would later star in "Stripes" and "Ghostbusters".

Besides Murray, you have Matt Craven (a character actor you'd totally recognize) and Chris Makepeace (an 80s familiar face from the likes of "My Bodyguard" and "Vamp". There's also Kristine DeBell, who's one of the few actresses to start in porn and successfully make the transition to mainstream films.

She was never a star, but she was certainly a working actress if respectable productions. So overall, "Meatballs" is an entertaining prototype of the 80s teen sex comedy (though it's a comparatively tame PG film) and is not nearly as funny as I remember it being, but Murrary makes it entertaining enough.