WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER: FIRST DAY OF CAMP

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/1/15 at 2:12pm

It didn't disappoint.  I'd much rather Broadway take on ELECTRO/CITY than BOMBSHELL.  My only complaint was that Janeane Garafolo was under-used.

Ken Marino takes his shirt off.  The whole characterization of Camp Tiger Claw had me howling.  Kristen Wiig shows up and works her magic in a few throwaway scenes.  The budding love affair between Bradley Cooper and Michael Ian Black is...totally sweet.  Elizabeth Banks gives embroidered designer flares a good name.  And I could listen to Paul Rudd snottily vent an impassioned grievance quite literally forever.  Loved the riff on the kid-who's-so-upset-he-runs-away cliché. 

If some of the cast looks quite a bit worse for the wear in all these 15 years, it's also amazing how incredibly well-preserved most of them are. 

[brdway411]

Posted: 8/1/15 at 9:50pm

There was some funny stuff but not very impressed. 

[Luscious]

Posted: 8/2/15 at 2:34pm

I highly doubt that they'll be a second day of camp.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/2/15 at 2:38pm

Um...that would be the original film.  Did either of you see it?

92% on rottentomatoes

Updated On: 8/2/15 at 02:38 PM

[east side story]

Posted: 8/2/15 at 4:37pm

It was a pleasant way to pass a few hours on  a Sunday afternoon. But much like the original film, it only produced a few chuckles for me. Cute, but I would never call it "hilarious."

And where the hell was Poehler towards the end? I'm sure Cooper had to fled the scene for The Elephant Man, which is just fine with me. But I missed Amy in the home stretch.

It is also so strange how Paul Rudd has only gotten better looking since he first started working. 

[Luscious]

Posted: 8/3/15 at 8:11am

"Um...that would be the original film. Did either of you see it?"

Yes. I'm familiar with the original film...which takes place on the last day of camp, not the second.

32% on Rotten Tomatoes

I found the original to be sporadically amusing, much like the series. Was hoping for more. I'm sure it was fun for all of them to get back together and recreate their rolls, but the fun didn't translate throughout, and the humor was very hit and miss, with more misses than hits. Not one of NETFLIX's better efforts.

Updated On: 8/3/15 at 08:11 AM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/3/15 at 10:09am

My biggest problem is that I didn't feel like there was any build. I enjoy the pacing of the movie, and felt like this suffered because it was so drawn out, so that pacing that the cast and writers worked out so wonderfully in the film was just completely absent. The movie felt like it had a build to its comedy. With the series it started at the level of absurdity that was present by the end of the movie, but then had nowhere to go. I sort of wish that if they had felt this need to revisit these characters and this camp that they had done the reunion that is talked about at the end of the movie, rather than a prequel giving me a lot of unnecessary backstory.

*Spoiler alert*

 

 

In hindsight I probably should have listened to my instinct and stopped watching after H. Jon Benjamin's character was turned into a talking can of vegetables. 

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/3/15 at 10:51am

^ I think I mostly agree with this. There were a lot of individual moments I liked, but I found it a little busy and overplotted. I didn't really care AT ALL about Coop's plotline, which was a shame, since his storyline was the heart of the movie. I thought Christopher Meloni was uniformly brilliant, and I LOVED the pendulum swing he had from Jonas to Gene.

I also thought it was funny that Gail had so much backstory and interaction with other adult characters, since she existed in her own isolated space in the movie. Kind of a weird decision to have her go through fiances and husbands so quickly, but with the way her storyline is resolved at the end of the movie, I guess I should've known.

Also totally not enough Nurse Nancy. Easily my favorite tertiary character.