"Wet Hot American Summer", F-U-N! (1 Viewer)

[Michael Allred]

Total spoof of 80's teen comedies, specifically those set at summer camps.
Completely zany and goofy. Really trashed the utter stupidity of that "genre".
Janeane Garofolo (think I spelled her name right) plays the camp director. Several members of MTVs "The State" also co-star. 2 other TV actors appear and though I forget their names, one is on "Frasier"...Niles I think and the other stars on "Oz" and Keller (he was especially hilarious as the cook with some rather strange sexual desires.)
This kind of spoof/satire/parody is FAR superior to the crap mainstream Hollywood puts out with "Not Another Teen Movie" and the like. "Wet Hot American Summer" was unfairly looked over at the box office.
The DVD has a making of documentary which shows not only the difficulties of the shoot but also shows us the zaniness continued off screen as well. Alcohol was readily available I think
There is an alternate audio track that allows you to watch the film while occasionally hearing farts...yes, I said farts. Yup, I laughed.
The deleted scenes are also a hoot, edited together as one musical montage.
My fav scene from the film is when Janeane takes the camp counsellors to town where one assumes they'll take part in "teen fun" yet

They attack old women for their purses, go on a wild drug binge where we hilariously see them in a crack house in all manner of drug use, etc

I really hope this little film becomes a cult classic, it deserves some recognition.

 

[chris c]

Totally agree, I loved it.

Minor spoiler ahead:

For some reason, that scene where the guy throws his lunch on the floor of the cafeteria and Jeneane Garafalo gives him that "pick it up" look, and he throws that teenage ploy of sighing (to the point of hilarity) while he picks it up just has me in stitches thinking about it.

 

[Jodee]

I really enjoyed this little flick as well. I totally see it becoming a staple on Comedy Contral someday. I predict it will be like "Office Space": a movie that gets more quotable and funnier every time you see it.

I loved Paul Rudd's "tantrum" too. The extended deleted scene with Janeane Garafolo calling out the kids names and making them sound more Jewish was hilarious.

"Amy Jones...stein" or something like that.

 

[Joel C]

My favorite is a toss up.

I love when David Hyde Pierce is telling her about the impending crash of Skylab, and Janeane's "Oh my God!" and "Jesus!" followed by, "This is neither the time nor the place to talk about it. Meet me by the picnic table in 10 seconds."

That, or when the guy is driving the van back to camp and singing along to the radio, then all of a sudden runs into a tree for no reason.

Oh, and humping a fridge.

Now excuse me, I have to go fondle my sweaters.

 

[John Stone]

Damn, you all are making me jealous. I was going to pick WHAS up on the 15th, but no one in town had it then, and I still can't find it locally now (I looked again today). I am definitely going to add it to my next online order. Great posts!

 

[Kevin Clemons]

Michael,

I totally agree about the "going into town" part. My girlfriend were about to fall off the couch we were laughing so hard.

I think the film sort of loses all sense of convention in the final fifteen minutes but what the hell it is just so much fun.

Now I need to go talk to my canned fruit thank you very much.

 

[Jason Hennigan]

This was a really fun movie. I watched it with a group of friends, and we all loved it. The trip into town was GREAT!

After watching this, I started thinking: where is a DVD collection of "The State?"

 

[Derek Miner]

Yes, the more I think about this, it was a great DVD. The movie had some definite moments. I lost it when the can of mixed vegetables started talking. The commentary/deleted scenes revealed that they had some more "State"-like non-sequitir moments, but they felt like they lost the audience with them. As it is in the finished film, there's really a different tone until the "going to town" scene, then we see that there are no-holds-barred anymore.

There was a great deleted scene that happened right after the guy jumped out of the raft to steal the motorcycle. The owner of the bike comes out of the tent and whines about the guy stealing it, and then the guys wife comes out and they argue about some personal issues. The wife was played by Kerry Kinney, also of The State.

The commentary also reveals another obscure ex-MTV celebrity appears in the film... the host of Squirt TV, Jake, played the kid taken away at the beginning of the movie.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

OK, I absolutely HATE buying DVDs sight unseen, but Tower didn't make a rental copy! Plus you guys make it sound damn good. So I may just bite the bullet and buy this one. It so sounds like my kind of comedy.
None of the DVD sites even have this one reviewed yet. Hmmm.... More incentive for me to buy it now!
EDIT: I did find one review. Let's just say it's NOT complimentary!
http://www.currentfilm.com/dvdreviews4/whasdvd.html

 

[Joel C]

Scott-
Look for my review soon on www.digitallyobsessed.com.

 

[Michael Allred]

Scott, that reviewer clearly did not "get" the film's humor. It reminds me of people who didn't understand "The Naked Gun". Some types of jokes are completely lost on certain folk.
If you like spoofs, you'll get a kick out of "WHAS".
Plenty of great quotes in it.

 

[Nate Anderson]

I also loved the picnic table gag.
Joel- You just said you were going to go fondle your sweaters!

 

[Joel C]

No I didn't. I said fondu with cheddar. I was thinking of making fondu with cheddar for dinner tonight.

Ok, see you later.

I just gotta head back to my bunk first.

 

[Nate Anderson]

Hehhe...Joel, thanks for going along with that.