Wet Hot American Summer

​ I can't tell you when I saw this movie for the first time.  I honestly don't remember.  What I do remember was being completely and utterly blown away by how ridiculous it was.  In all the best ways.  The cast was unreasonably talented and there are some actors in here that are now major household names. 


It wasn't just the cast for me though.  I used to attend a summer camp sort of like this one.  It lasted only a week, but it was the same concept.  Sleep away camp with older teenage counselors and outdoor activities.  Once I reached an age in which I didn't want to attend that camp anymore, I ended up going to our family's new (old) place in Connecticut.  That will be a separate post.  Across the river from our place was an old resort which is now a nature preserve.  This resort was a little more Dirty Dancing-esque than Wet Hot American Summer, but it had the same kind of vibe.


I love ridiculous comedies when they are done well, which I feel as though this one is.  Part of the point of this movie is to be as ridiculous as possible while drawing on some of the experiences of camp in general as well as the writer/director's personal experiences at camp. 


The movie itself was shot with all the actors basically living at the camp while shooting and things got a little crazy.  I highly recommend that you not only watch the original movie, but that you watch the making of documentary called Hurricane of Fun.  There's also a Netflix series (thank you Netflix) about the first day of camp in which all the original actors come back and make things even more ridiculous by refusing to acknowledge that they are all in their 40s playing teenage roles.


As you listen to the podcast, you'll hear that some of the team felt that maybe they'd find the movie funnier if they had seen the series first.  I hope that's not the case for you.  I hope that you will love the movie just as much as I did without the backstory or supplemental stuff that I've gone without all these years.  That's probably just me being elitest about it though.  I really just want everyone to enjoy it in general. 


What do you think?  Have you seen any of these?  

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