Review of Wet Hot American Summer (2001) by Conor M — 28 Mar 2010

A very specific genre of movies, namely goofy camp-counselor comedies of the 80s, gets an absurdist spoofing with Wet Hot American Summer. The brainchild of members of the sketch comedy troupe The State, the movie concerns a group of horny teen counselors at a Jewish summer camp in Maine (who are, winkingly, all played by actors far too old to be teens).

There's the geeky Coop (Michael Showalter), who's in love with Katie (Marguerite Moreau), who in turn is involved with the jerk Andy (Paul Rudd). There's also the camp director Beth (Janeane Garofalo) who falls for the awkward physics professor Henry (David Hyde Pearce).

Numerous other characters populate the camp, including an inspired turn by Christopher Meloni as a disturbed camp cook who fought in Nam, and even two male counselors who end up getting married (Michael Ian Black and Bradley Cooper).

There isn't really much of a plot to speak of, instead the movie throws up a lot of gags and even skewers other plots common in similar movies. The only thing resembling a plot happens late in the movie, when Henry finds a piece of skylab falling directly toward the cam and tries to find a way to alter its course so it doesn't land on the auditorium where the big talent show is occurring.

It's easy to see that some people might not appreciate the film's scattershot style of humor, but I happened to find it hilarious. The lack of structure allows the movie to go in any direction it wants, and often with hysterical results.

Not all the plot points work, but the majority of them do, and the cast is game for pretty much all the silliness. There's even some extremely dark humor that might not appeal to some, but manages to be pretty funny, even if you feel a little bad laughing.