I missed catching Wet, Hot, American Summer when it first came out back in 2001. It wasn’t until 2015, when Netflix released the “prequel” series, that I finally got around to watching it.
That time delay may have made it even funnier than it would have been 14 years earlier.
The Plot
The film follows the (mis)adventures of the counselors of Camp Firewood on the last day of the season. Adventure, intrigue, romance… a ridiculous chase scene… the movie has it all and none of it is serious.
Taking care of the campers is really a secondary concern most of the time. Really, it’s amazing so many of these kids have survived the summer. It’s kind of amazing that most of the counselors have survived the summer. In short: if you’re looking for a plot that really makes sense or matches with “reality” in any meaningful way, you’re not going to find it here. I mean, there’s a talking can. And a military conspiracy. And Paul Rudd being the “cool” guy.
What you get here is a bunch of “bits” loosely strung together that they somehow manage to tie up by the end of the film. They even manage to tie a bunch of them together, which, given the kind of surreal nature of a lot of things going on, is impressive.
Mostly what you get is a lot of humor at various levels. The low-level slapstick of a number of the interactions. The over-playing of tropes (like Rudd’s afore-mentioned “cool guy”), usually with some little twist to drive home just how ridiculous anyone actually emulating such a trope would be. Some great plays on words and sit-com-worthy misunderstandings. And, amid all of that, some really heart-felt insight into human nature… but in a funny way.
The movie has tons of heart (and you know that’s important to me, especially when it comes to comedy). There aren’t a lot of jokes at the expense of other people… and those times when there is a character picking on another one, that ends up turning around a bit.
The Cast
To any current viewer, there are a lot of familiar faces in this movie. Not all of them were quite as familiar when the movie first hit theaters. Most of them weren’t complete newbs, but they were far from household names.
Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Rudd, Christopher Meloni. Molly Shannon, Michael Ian Black… tons of my favorite people, all together. They play wonderfully together, which shouldn’t be surprising when you realize that just about everyone in the cast has an improv comedy background.
Since I didn’t see this until 14 years after it came out, I had the extra added bonus of knowing bunches of (usually more serious) roles the cast had become known for. That made this farcical comedy even more surreal. (And doubly so with the Netflix series.)
The Verdict
Writers Michael Showalter and David Wain (who also directed) has a solid history of sketch comedy under their belts when Wet Hot American Summer came out. All of that experience was used to great effect (and has continued to be used over the years). So, if you’re an old-time fan of The State or Stella, you already know what kind of crazy you’re in for.
The comedy here isn’t for everyone, I know plenty of people who would just roll their eyes and sigh at some of the cheese levels that this movie has. I know others who would be utterly scandalized by the humor, twists, and revelations. Still others who just wouldn’t get it for any number of other reasons. But, if you like stuff that that Showalter and Wain have done or, if you haven’t seen any of their stuff, things like what Christopher Guest puts out, then definitely check this out.
It’s an 80s-style comedy made in very beginning of the 21st Century with a modern edge toward characters and humor. Paradoxical as that may sound, the film delivers.
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