Hello and welcome back to Camp Crappabuttawipe at B-Movie Enema!

What do you get when you bring together a couple of stars from the 90s with some of the biggest and funniest people in comedy of the 21st century together in a single movie? Well, you get this week’s movie, Wet Hot American Summer! A couple of weeks ago, I talked about Ivan Reitman’s 1979 comedy that launched both his career as a director AND Bill Murray’s career as a leading man in comedies for decades to come, Meatballs. While I think it’s safe to say that Wet Hot American Summer and Meatballs are kind of in the same vein of a camp movie that focuses on the shenanigans the adult counselors get up to, Wet Hot is not as much of a straight comedy. No, this is meant to be more of a satire or parody of the archetypes of the adult counselors.

Wet Hot American Summer was directed and co-written by David Wain. Wain was influenced to make this movie based on his experiences as a kid going to Jewish camps. He specifically thought back to time spent at Ohio’s Camp Wise and Maine’s Camp Modin. Now, I’m glad I held off doing this movie until the middle of July (even though it would have been a much better choice for July 4th weekend with “American” in the title and all) because this movie does parody some movies we’re very familiar with and ones we’re especially recently familiar with. Yes, this is a bit of a homage to Sleepaway Camp, Little Darlings, and Meatballs.

See? Maybe I do know what the fuck I’m doing with scheduling movies at this site.

Another influence on this movie was big ensemble movies that take place in a very finite amount of time with large casts of characters, like Dazed and Confused and Do the Right Thing. And, yeah… This movie’s cast is incredible. Remember one thing about this movie… this movie was released in 2001. So many of the people in this cast were not yet big names, but a few would become MASSIVE stars. At the top of the cast are established people – Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce. Garofalo made a name for herself as a comedian in the late 90s in both studio and indie films of various genres. Pierce was best known for playing Niles for a very long time on Frasier. So these were names you could kind of attach some recognition to for the movie.

But after that, you have Molly Shannon, who was just recently a cast member of Saturday Night Live. Speaking of SNL, Amy Poehler is also here, and she was just about to become a cast member of the show. Another indirect connection to SNL is A.D. Miles, who was the head writer for a few years for The Tonight Show when former SNL castmember Jimmy Fallon had taken over the series. Christopher Meloni is in this. He had been on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at the time and would be on that show for many more years to come. We also have Kevin Sussman, who would become quite famous for becoming an adjunct member of the main cast of friends on The Big Bang Theory. Elizabeth Banks appears in this movie along with other comedy actors who would all do some various work throughout the 2000s like Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter (the other writer on this film with Wain), and H. Jon Benjamin (best known as Bob from Bob’s Burgers).

But really, it’s two of the actors that would ultimately become two of the very biggest names in Hollywood. The first is Bradley Cooper. Cooper is now a very well-respected actor of both comedies and dramas, but has also become quite an acclaimed director. Since 2013, Cooper has racked up 12 Academy Award nominations for acting, directing, writing, and producing Best Picture nominees. He’s yet to win an Oscar, but I kind of feel like it’s only a matter of time. What makes him kind of interesting is that he’s an A-list actor and director, but he tends to make smaller dramas that are less flashy than what I assume roles he’ll take in big-time studio films will help fund the passion projects that he writes and directs. For me, though? My favorite Bradley Cooper performance is Rocket Raccoon… because of course it is.

The other massive name in this is Paul Rudd. This came along while Rudd was still kind of early in his film career. It had only been six years since he first came on the film scene with Clueless and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. It would still be a few more years before he’d appear in Anchorman when his career really kicks into overdrive, but he’s one of the biggest, most likable comedic actors presently. He also used to do this thing anytime he’d show up on Conan O’Brien’s various talk shows, where he would always bring the exact same clip from the movie Mac and Me and have that queued up to show instead of whatever movie he was there to promote as a prank. God, I miss some of those old Conan interviews. They were truly odd and a whole other brand of comedy you don’t get from the other hosts now or then.

Anyway, it’s best that I stop yappin’ and get to the meat of this Wet Hot American Summer.

Alright, we have to set the stage properly. It’s 1981. We’ve got rock and roll blastin’ on the radio. The counselors are all hanging out around a fire, lookin’ hot, makin’ out, and, I dunno, probably stoned and drunk out of their minds. More accurately, it’s August 18, 1981, the last day of camp. In one of the cabins, couples are all covered up on the bunks and playing a lot of lip-lockin’ grab ass. You expect to see the teens doing this, but it’s actually the younger boys and girls doing all the bed business.

Honestly, I feel like we’ve already missed out on a big part of the story. Meatballs would have had montages and vignettes that carried through the entire time of summer camp. What’s this? Cutting directly to the end of camp? I feel ripped off.

But I shouldn’t. This movie actually has a plot. Because it’s the last day of camp at Camp Firewood, campers are told that this is their last chance to find a special someone to hook up with because they won’t want to go back home and have to lie about making the sex to their friends. So… Enter Coop.

Coop is played by co-writer Michael Showalter. He’s in love with fellow counselor Katie (Marguerite Moreau), who is hooked up and constantly making out with Pull Rudd’s Andy. And, look, I get it. Paul Rudd is a stone cold fox… as is Marguerite Moreau. You let this pretty couple cook, Coop. But, I also get it. Have those hot daydreams of making out with Katie too. Anyway, Katie likes to tease Coop about how he likes to watch her and Andy make out. But Katie makes Coop a promise. She is going to find him a girl to hook up with today.

Meanwhile, we have Camp Director Beth (Garofalo), who spotted a guy who is spending the summer at a house near the camp. She introduces herself and finds out this is Professor Henry Newman (David Hyde Pierce). After learning that the professor is a professor of space stuff, Beth invites him to come to the camp to teach the kids about space. He angrily rejects the offer, sending the dejected Beth back to the camp.

During breakfast, Henry decides maybe he should go over to the camp and take the offer from Beth to talk space with some of the nerdier campers. He immediately ingratiates himself with them by offering a day full of science projects. This gives Beth a chance to get to know him a little better.

We meet some other characters, like Victor (Ken Marino), the horniest guy at camp who claims to have fucked pretty much everyone at the camp (except for Katie), who later reveals he is actually a virgin and just talks a big game to the guys. We also meet the cook, Gene (Christopher Meloni), a disturbed Vietnam War veteran with some peculiar fetishes. There are the drama kids, Ben and Susie (Cooper and Poehler). Ben is gay and in love with McKinley (Michael Ian Black). Another major player we meet on this final morning of camp is the arts and crafts lady, Gail von Kleinenstein (Molly Shannon), who is an emotionally wrecked divorcee.

And, already, we see this is absolutely in line with something like the previously mentioned and reviewed Meatballs. There is a group of characters doing camp things and getting horny and drunk. As I also mentioned earlier, unlike Meatballs, this actually has a plot. By narrowing this down to the final day of camp, we can build a series of events that will all come to a head at the big talent show that closes out the camp for the year. Gail is getting kids to create decorations for the talent show. Ben and Susie are putting on a scene from Godspell and want the most talented of the campers to audition for it. There are girls who are learning a dance routine, so on and so forth.

We’re introduced to these characters and told everything we need to know about them through a few lines of dialogue, and where they are as of the end of the summer. The arc isn’t where they came to camp and building to where they will be at the end. It’s all saved for this final day. Where they are now vs. where they will be tomorrow morning. Victor is especially hot for a girl named Abby (Marisa Ryan) and will make his move tonight. Coop wants to make an impression on Katie, the girl he’s admired from afar for six long years. Katie tries to figure out if there’s a future with her somewhat ditzy boyfriend, Andy. Andy has a wandering eye for Lindsay (Elizabeth Banks). Beth wants to get to know and seek a possible relationship with Professor Henry. All of that other stuff that would feature the shenanigans of a summer-long camp, that would also distract from these characters’ plots and arcs, has already happened and is not important. Moments into this movie, I already know it’s a better film than the charming but very flawed Meatballs.

Trust me, I don’t want to consistently compare this movie to that one, but the goal from the get-go is that this was an homage to that movie.

Despite being ordered by big boss Beth to take a bunch of kids on an all-night rafting trip with another counselor, Victor gets his chance to spend the entire day fucking with Abby. He promises her he will meet her tonight, no matter what.

A scene that turns into a literal sequel miniseries for Netflix sees a bunch of the counselors promise to meet up here at camp in ten years to see what kind of people they have become. The joke of this seemingly otherwise throwaway scene is that they try to figure out the exact time they will meet in ten years. Will it be in the morning so they can make an entire day of the reunion? Will it be 9am or 9:30? Does McKinley already have something scheduled that day that needs to be considered when setting the time?

Beth asks Katie how to be “hot.” Katie suggests that Beth wear a dress. In fact, she should probably put some mousse in her hair to sex it up a little bit. Katie finds out that Beth has a crush on someone, but Beth doesn’t think the guy is all that interested. So now Katie is using her hotness to help Beth, as well as trying to find a girl that Coop can hook up with tonight. While talking to Coop, Katie starts to see there might be something to this guy. While Katie is being much more than just the hot girl at the camp, Lindsay (Banks) and Andy get into some hot and heavy making out while he’s supposed to be lifeguarding some kids at the lake… Which may or may not have led to the drowning of one of the kids while he was too busy with Lindsay.

Shenanigans ensue as Beth goes to town to find books about Astrophysics so she can talk about the subject with Henry. When some of the counselors see that she’s headed to town, they hop into the back of her truck to join. Together they get ice cream, smoke a couple of cigarettes, score some beer, buy some cocaine from a guy in an alley, beat up an old lady to steal her purse, and end up in a rundown drug den where they overdose on crack and heroin. As counselor J.J. (Zak Orth) says, it sure is fun to leave camp. Even if it is just for an hour.

The biggest key event of this town excursion is that Coop and Katie are really getting cozy with one another

Once Victor and Neil, the counselor Beth sent with him, and the guy whom Victor revealed he’s a big, giant virgin loser, drop the kids off to do their rafting trip, Victor is too busy daydreaming about having sex with Abby. He ends up running the van into a tree. Neil, fed up with being left with the kids alone, steals a motorcycle to try to catch him, but Victor outruns him. Meanwhile, J.J. and Gary, the guy who has the misfortune to work with the cook Gene, conspire to get McKinley laid. He gets really weird whenever the subject of sex with a woman comes up. Well, they don’t know he gets ass… a LOT… from Ben. Beth even performs a wedding ceremony for the two lovers too. Despite J.J. and Gary referring to them as “fags,” later, they arrive at dinner with a heartfelt wedding gift and hugs, celebrating their union.

As the afternoon continues, the evening’s talent show, as well as other revelations, begin to come into focus. But first, Beth realizes that the weird kid at camp, Steve (Kevin Sussman, who is just as much of an outsider here as he was on Big Bang Theory), hasn’t really made any friends this summer. In fact, he doesn’t interact with anyone, but has been working on some sort of project all summer. She gives him a slot in the talent show to try to impress the other kids.

Andy continues to acquiesce to Lindsay’s advances, but when her kisses start to taste like the cookout’s hamburgers, he doesn’t like her anymore. But all that leads to Coop and Katie being able to spend the afternoon together. The two of them end up kissing in the goat barn. Beth also kisses Henry. But while love seemingly blooms, Katie feels guilty for “cheating” on Andy, and she goes back to her boyfriend, breaking Coop’s heart.

One of the revelations that comes to light is a culmination of two things: why Henry is vacationing near the camp and why he is often looking up into the sky. He reveals to Beth that he originally thought he had discovered a planet or a meteor in the sky, only for him to realize it’s a rogue piece of Skylab that is hurtling toward the camp. Along with the nerdy kids at camp, Henry builds a homemade tracker that could possibly save the camp.

Coop talks to Andy and asks him if he actually loves Katie. Of course, Andy does not, but he won’t break up with Katie even if she could do better with Coop, who really does love her. Coop is subjected to several humiliating mishaps before finally being taken under Gene’s wing to teach him “the new way.”

It’s time for the talent show. Victor runs all the way back to camp only to find that Abby is making out, and has been making out all day, with other people, one of the kids included. Beth sends Victor and Neil, both of whom left the kids alone on the dangerous rapids, back to the rafting kids before they go over a waterfall to save them. Henry discovers the rogue piece of Skylab will land on the rec hall where the talent show is happening.

Henry, the nerds, and Beth work on solving the Skylab issue. At the talent show, kids are performing their talents like balancing a broom on the palm of their hand, lighting a fart, and telling off-color jokes. Despite Susie complaining that the group of girls singing “Day by Day” from Godspell “suck dick,” they are phenomenal… but get mercilessly booed by the campers even though they were weeping and clapping along during the song.

Most importantly, the new, improved Coop enters to tell Katie he’s leaving to see the world before school starts. Every girl at the camp is floored by the now hot coop as he drops off a gift for Katie and exits like a fucking boss. But, even better, is Paul Rudd’s reaction to this new Coop when he sees him enter the rec hall.

When Steve comes to the stage, he begins to concentrate and stick his hands out, which causes a massive windstorm to whip up inside the rec hall. Outside, Katie catches up to Coop and tells him she loves him. Steve’s inexplicable talent, along with Henry’s tracking device, diverts the chunk of Skylab, and everyone is saved. The next day, the buses come to pick up the kids. In just a few hours, Henry has received a major astrophysics award, been hired by NASA, and he and Beth have figured out their issues with sex because she’s pregnant with their baby. All is great and perfect…

Except that Katie had some time to think about it. Sure, Coop was heroic and romantic and so loving last night. But, you see, Andy is really hot. That’s just what Katie would like to roll with. She doesn’t care that Andy is lame and cheats on her, but while Coop is cute and she likes him more, she’s sixteen, and she just wants to fuck. And she only wants to fuck Andy.

Wet Hot American Summer is a 2000s comedic masterpiece. Again, I don’t want to only compare this to Meatballs because it’s a bit unfair for either film to be compared to the other, but where Meatballs had vignettes that showed moments across a longer period of time, the momentum of the vignettes and, for lack of a better word, skits that Wet Hot American Summer has builds and compounds from one to the next. It doesn’t always make sense which characters are involved in which scenes. Sometimes the J.J. character is like a magical teleporter because he’ll be seen in one scene and then appear in the very next scene, someplace not at all related to the one before it, but he was the best character to be involved in both scenes/skits/vignettes.

The main difference is that Meatballs had the one element that really needed to be the throughline of the entire movie, Bill Murray being a big brother to a lonely, depressed camper, but seemed almost afraid to commit to that plot. This movie, though, focused specifically on a wacky comedic concept. That comedy, I might add, would become the defining style of comedy for the next 10-15 years. It’s the kind of comedy that people ranging from the youngest of the Gen Xers to the Millennials to the oldest of the Zoomers can really latch onto. It became the type of absurdist comedy that would make Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim a juggernaut in the aughts.

This movie is loaded with that. We have characters suddenly shouting out of the blue when just a split second before, they were calm and composed. There are characters who suddenly slip on a banana peel and kick a bucket into the air, only for it to come crashing back down and land on their head. There are whole scenes that you think will just be a group of people from the camp going into town and spending a day together, only for them to get strung out and die from drug overdoses. Characters like Paul Rudd’s Andy are so wildly over the top and off the wall that they can only fit in THIS specific movie or in a very specific scene or situation. I mean, Andy is legitimately to blame for the death of two children, and when other children threaten to reveal this, he drives them down the road in a van and dumps them out on the side of the road. Character motivations are loose enough to fit into whatever would make the audience laugh, while still being something that fits the character, even if it is something you wouldn’t expect them to do.

Every scene has a moment that gets you to care, then gets you to chuckle, before finally getting the big laugh, before the movie goes to the next scene, and the cycle starts again. There are a couple of instances that are played for more frequent laughs, and there is at least one scene that is not really about laughing (Ben and McKinley’s wedding), but sets up a later laugh (when J.J. and Gary appear to out them only to deliver a very thoughtful gift). It’s just a wonderfully written and performed movie that sets the stage for what a whole swath of people will find funny for decades after, with a lot of these people in the movie becoming synonymous with comedy to this very day.

Let’s pack up for this week and look to what is next at Camp Crappabuttawipe. We had a pretty good run of things. Sure, maybe I expected a little more from Meatballs, but before that, I had Little Darlings and Marshmallow. I had a fun time reminiscing on a favorite from my childhood, Ernest Goes to Camp. This week, I had the spectacular Wet Hot American Summer. But the next few weeks will be a little rougher, I fear. The next three movies I’m looking at have, shall I say, mixed to very negative legacies. We’re going to probably start at the highest point of the next three weeks with the obscure late-80s camp slasher, Twisted Nightmare. So, yeah, come back for that, won’t ya?

Until then, I don’t think there is any better way to leave you than with some inspiring words about accepting who you are from Gene the cook at Camp Firewood: