Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Directed by David Wain
Written by David Wain, Michael Showalter
Starring Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino
Release Date July 27th, 2001
Published January 15th, 2002
A few weeks back theatres were infected with the inept, unfunny, teen movie sendup Not Another Teen Movie. An exercise in stupidity, it quickly disappeared from theatres. To see how a teen movie sendup should work, see the new to video and DVD Wet Hot American Summer, a hysterical take on the teen movie sub-genre, the summer camp movie.
Summer is the brainchild of David Wain and Michael Showalter, better known as members of the comedy troupe The State whose short-lived MTV sketch show mastered the art of teen movie parody. Showalter also stars in the film as the nerdy camp counselor who on the last day of camp is going to win over the hottest girl. Janeane Garofalo also stars as the head counselor who is romancing David Hyde Pierce as a nerdy scientist. Indeed all the great camp movie cliches are in place, save for the evil rival camp whose owner wants to takeover the camp, a cliche that is referred to but then knowingly dismissed in one the movies funniest scenes.
The films best moments are provided by Law and Order SVU star Christopher Meloni as the camp cook, whose best friend is a can of mixed vegetables. Anyone who ever saw Meloni on HBO's Oz will laugh hysterically everytime he's onscreen.
If anything keeps Wet Hot American Summer from being a great movie instead of a good movie, it's Garofalo. At times, she can't seem to keep up with her costars outrageous-ness. It's not her fault, all the members of The State, Showalter, Ken Marino and Michael Ian Black have been together a long time and have a chemistry that can't be picked up in the time it takes to shoot a movie.
Wet Hot American Summer is everything Not Another Teen Movie wasn't. It's funny, intelligent and over the top in ways that don't involve excrement and bodily functions. Let's hope Michael Showalter, David Wain and the other members of The State get the chance to make more movies, though the film's box office makes that unlikely.
