Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

Lists

Ratings & comments

full starfull starfull starempty starempty star

The critical disdain of this spoof on the summer camp genre is easy to understand; it's a very mixed bag, one moment played straight, the next parodying some niche trope. Changes in tone can be jarring. But perhaps explaining the details would constitute spoilers: part of the charm is in the way various story threads -- Henry (David Hyde Pierce) teaches the nerds about science, damaged veteran Gene (Christopher Meloni) complains in the kitchen -- abruptly elevate their levels of absurdity. It works because of, not in spite of, the abrupt changes in tone.

Pleasantly surprising.

- Sam - 2017-08-08 00:08:11