What with the end of summer fast approaching and a new Netflix series just released, I figured it was appropriate to take a look at the 2001 comedy from David Wain, Wet Hot American Summer. This was one of those movies that I'd heard of for quite some time, but knew absolutely nothing about. After my usual post-viewing round of research, I was surprised to see that this movie was actually widely panned when it was released; this came as a surprise to me, considering I was laughing pretty consistently throughout the hour and a half runtime.
The movie is an irreverent love letter to 80's summertime comedy romps such as Meatballs and The Sandlot; it's the last day of camp at Camp Firewood, meaning that the gaggle of adolescent counselors only have one final day to find themselves in a classic summertime romantic entanglement. There's a large ensemble cast of characters, each one with their own story. As the day goes on, we flit from story to story, watching each bit progress little by little, all leading up to the big camp talent show. This method of storytelling is more than a little stilted, but I feel it works to the benefit of the jokes; so much of the humor here is situational, so it can be difficult to draw scenes to a close. For example, there's a great sequence in which Camp Director Beth (Janeane Garofalo) and Counselor Neil (Joe Lo Truglio) are desperately trying to find one of the counselors; it's a hilarious scene, shot with tons of energy. However, there isn't really a clear way to end it once the joke has run its course, which is where the cuts to different characters and their stories come in handy. It's a little disjointed, but it's made apparent very early on that this movie doesn't operate on any modicum of logic; like most classic parodies, the jokes don't have to make sense, so long as they're funny.
The cast is composed of a wealth of great comedic talents, from Molly Shannon to Amy Poehler to David Hyde Pierce to Bradley Cooper, everyone does a great job here. The only downside is that, with so many characters, no one is really defined all that much. Everyone has a base characterization, but only a small handful of the cast really gets individual moments to shine. Personally, I'd say the standout here is Paul Rudd, playing definitive 80's bad boy, Andy. Everything this character says is so wonderfully quotable; I also really enjoyed Christopher Meloni as Gene, the camp cook (who is dealing with shellshock, having served in Vietnam). It feels like a lot of the jokes and dialog was born from improvisation, which isn't a bad thing at all. Letting naturally funny people do what they do best can result in some magic. Another aspect of this film that I really adored was its rapt devotion to just about every single cliché born from this type of movie. I'm a humongous fan of films that take a classic trope and turn it on its head, but Wet Hot American Summer takes it to another level; in just about every scene, there's some sort of wink or nod, some as subtle as the way a line is delivered, to the contrived platitudes found in every summer-themed comedy. Michael Showalter's motivational speech to his plucky softball team of ragtag misfits comes to mind as being a prime example of this kind of lampshading which the movie excels at so well.
My only criticism is that this isn't really much of a film. It's more like a collection of skits that one might find late at night on Adult Swim; the plot and characterization are nearly nonexistant. Whatever fragments of these exist serve only as a platform for more humorous soliloquies. Don't get me wrong, it's funny, but that's about all this is. There's literally nothing here but the humor. No great story, no great characters, no especially great performances. Just a collection of funny gags done by some funny people. This, as you might imagine, puts the film in something of a precarious position. Humor is subjective, and when that's all that a film has to go on, it can be a total coin toss as to whether or not a particular viewer might enjoy it or not. I personally found it hilarious, but I can easily see it not being everyone's cup of tea. When I say things get ridiculous, I mean that things get ridiculous. It's difficult to put into words what exactly makes this film work for me, other than it's just funny. Truthfully, it's not particularly smart or clever, more just well-constructed; a very basic, yet effective kind of humor. I don't particularly know why it's funny to see a high-speed motorcycle chase brought to a dramatic end by a single bale of hay, all I know is that it made me laugh.
Wet Hot American Summer is definitely an interesting piece of work. I personally found it hilarious, highlighting all my favorite clichés and never dropping the delightfully absurd tone for even a second. That said, it's definitely not for everybody; if this is the type of humor that makes you roll your eyes rather than crack up, maybe give this one a pass. However, if you want to see something really goofy and really fun, I highly recommend you give it a watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment