Review of Wet Hot American Summer (2001) by Campbell P — 02 Jul 2015

Wet Hot American Summer is an average parody of summer camp movies and involve the antics of many camp counselors who want to embrace their last day of camp. Through many stories I saw throughout the movie it's hit or miss in terms of enjoyment and laughs.

The really good story focuses are the love triangle between Coop, Katie and Andy which I thought was hilarious, the relationship between Henry and Beth, and Gene with his scarring Vietnam past. With those stories came the price of some cliched characters which were not only in the good ones but the bad ones.

Coop is a total nerd looking for love, Katie is a typical floozy character, Gene is your typical scarred Vietnam character, Susie was your over the top Broadway type, and lots of other nerd stereotypes.

There were times where the cliches got in the way and were a slight bother but it didn't really keep the momentum of the story from moving so it wasn't too bad. The comedic timing was on point a lot of the time but some jokes were misses.

When this movie was funny I thought it was really clever and funny but when it missed it ended up coming off kinda awkward. The story of the guy going back to camp so he could get laid was kind of a bummer because it felt kind of out of place.

There were a few chuckles throughout that sequence but it was nowhere as funny as some of the other sequences. The casting choices I thought were pretty smart choices, they didn't go completely overboard with who they wanted and when it did with Bradley Cooper it worked.

All the actors I thought did a pretty solid job except Coop who was just kinda annoying and delivered his lines in a stuttering tone of voice. In terms of chemistry between characters I thought there were only two tightly wounded pairs and that being Coop and Katie and Beth and Henry.

Otherwise I didn't really feel much of a connection between anyone else. You can argue that there's no development in any character and I'd probably agree because nobody learns anything at all.

I'm not able to take anything away from this movie because I simply didn't gain anything. Wet Hot American Summer is still a really funny movie that is worth a watch but don't expect to gain anything or see strong character background.

C+.