Wet Hot American Summer

Wet Hot American Summer
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Wain
Produced by	Howard Bernstein
Written by	David Wain Michael Showalter
Starring	Janeane Garofalo David Hyde Pierce Molly Shannon Paul Rudd Christopher Meloni Michael Showalter Marguerite Moreau Ken Marino Michael Ian Black Zak Orth A. D. Miles Amy Poehler Bradley Cooper Marisa Ryan Kevin Sussman Joe Lo Truglio Elizabeth Banks
Music by	Theodore Shapiro Craig Wedren
Cinematography	Ben Weinstein
Editing by	Meg Reticker
Distributed by	USA Films
Release dates	July 27, 2001 (2001-07-27) (New York City)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.8 million[1]
Box office	$295,206 (USA)[2]

Wet Hot American Summer is a 2001 satirical comedy film written by David Wain and Michael Showalter, and directed by Wain. The film takes place during the last day at a fictional Jewish summer camp in 1981, before closing for the summer. It stars Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter (and various other members of MTV's sketch comedy group The State), Marguerite Moreau, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, and A.D. Miles.

The film was a commercial and critical flop, but has since received a cult following.^[3]

Plot

On August 18, 1981, Camp Firewood, a summer camp located near Waterville, Maine, is preparing for its last day of summer camp, which means counselors have one last chance to have a romantic encounter with another person at Camp Firewood. The summer ultimately culminates in a talent show.

Beth (Janeane Garofalo), the camp director, struggles to keep her counselors in order—and her campers alive—while falling in love with Henry (David Hyde Pierce), an astrophysics associate professor at the local college (actually Colby College). Henry has to devise a plan to save the camp from a piece of NASA's Skylab, which is falling to Earth.

Coop (Michael Showalter) has a crush on Katie (Marguerite Moreau), his fellow counselor, but has to pry her away from her rebellious, obnoxious, and obviously unfaithful boyfriend, Andy (Paul Rudd). Only Gene (Christopher Meloni), the shell-shocked Vietnam war veteran and camp chef, can help Coop win Katie—with some help from a talking can of vegetables (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin).

All the while, Gary (A.D. Miles), Gene's unfortunately chosen apprentice, and J.J. (Zak Orth) attempt to figure out why McKinley (Michael Ian Black) hasn't been with a woman; and Susie (Amy Poehler) and Ben (Bradley Cooper) attempt to produce and choreograph the greatest talent show Camp Firewood has ever seen.

Cast

Production

Background

The film is based on the experiences Wain had while attending Camp Modin, a Jewish camp, located in Belgrade, Maine, and Showalter had at Camp Mohawk in the Berkshires in Cheshire, Massachusetts.^[4] During one scene, the counselors take a trip into Waterville, Maine, which is not far from the camp. It is also a parody of, and homage to, other films about summer camp such as Meatballs (1979) and Indian Summer (1993). According to Wain, they wanted to make a film structured like films such as Nashville, Dazed and Confused and Do the Right Thing—"films that take place in one contained time period that have lots of different characters."^[1]

Development

The film's financing took three years to assemble; in a June 2011 interview, Wain revealed the film's budget was $1.8 million; he noted that during the 2001 Sundance Film Festival,^[5] the film had been promoted as costing $5 million, in an attempt to attract a better offer from a distributor.^[1]

Filming

Principal photography lasted 28 days, and it "rained on all of them";^[1] Exterior shots were filmed catch-as-catch can, and, in many interior scenes, rain seen outside turns into sun as soon as characters step outside. The actors' breath can be seen in most outdoor scenes,^[1] and even in some indoor ones because of the cold. The film was shot at Camp Towanda in Honesdale, Pennsylvania^[6] and is rated R for adult humor, language, and sexual content.

Music

As the film is set in the early 1980s, the film's soundtrack features songs from many popular bands of the era, most notably Jefferson Starship, Rick Springfield, Loverboy, and KISS.

Release

Wet Hot American Summer premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, where it was screened four times to sold-out crowds,^[7] though it failed to attract a distributor.^[1] Months later, USA Films offered the filmmakers $100,000 for the film, with virtually no participation for the filmmakers, an offer the film's investors accepted. It premiered in New York City on July 27, 2001, then received a theatrical release limited to fewer than 30 cities:^[7] Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Champaign, IL, Dallas, Austin, TX, Abilene, TX, Washington D.C., Seattle, Bellingham, WA, Langley, WA, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Athens, GA, Chapel Hill, NC, Tryon, NC, Lafayette, IN, Boston, Providence, RI, Wilton, NH, Madison, WI, Columbia, MO, Minneapolis, Portland, OR, and Nashville, TN.

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 31% based on 65 reviews. Metacritic gives a rating of 42% based on reviews from 24 critics.^[8]

Notably, Roger Ebert rated the film with one star out of four, and despised it so much that his review took the form of a sarcastic tribute to Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh".^[9]

In contrast, Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman awarded the film an "A" and named it as one of the ten best films of the year. Newsweek's David Ansen also lauded it, calling it a "gloriously silly romp" that "made me laugh harder than any other movie this summer. Make that this year."^[10] Numerous other critics have praised the film as a witty pop satire and it has gone on to achieve a cult following.^{[citation needed]}

Kristen Bell stated on NPR on September 2, 2012, that this was her favorite film of all time, having watched it "hundreds of times".

Home video

The film was released in both VHS and DVD formats on January 15, 2002.^[7] Wain has tried to convince Universal Studios to do either a 10th anniversary home video re-release with extra features, or perhaps a Blu-ray release, but Universal has repeatedly rejected the idea.^[1]

Possible prequel

Wain has suggested that there may be a prequel to Wet Hot American Summer. The movie would be set earlier in that same summer, and part of the joke would be that the cast, who were ten years too old to be playing their parts, would now be playing younger versions of those same roles, but this time be 20 years too old. The movie would star the same cast from the original.^[11] On February 23, 2012, Paul Rudd mentioned to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show that there were indeed talks about a possible prequel and that it was currently being written.^[12]

Wain has confirmed a sequel, with all of the original cast returning.^[13]

Anniversary celebrations

Events were held around the country to celebrate the film's 10-year anniversary in 2011 and 2012, including a screening of the film in Boston,^[14] an art show in Santa Monica of works inspired by the film with a reception hosted by Wain,^[15] a screening at the Los Angeles Film School with a Q&A with Wain,^[16] a midnight screening in Cleveland, Ohio,^[17] a 10th anniversary celebration event with the members of Stella in Brooklyn,^[18] and a reading of the script at the San Francisco Comedy Festival with much of the original cast.^[19]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wet Hot American Summer

• Official website
• Wet Hot American Summer at the Internet Movie Database
• Wet Hot American Summer at Box Office Mojo
• Wet Hot American Summer at Rotten Tomatoes
• Interview from Kittenpants.org