“Wet Hot American Summer” is a comedy with a natural sense of wit and deadpan humor that has not been seen in a parody film since the Zucker brothers’ 1980 classic “Airplane.”
Set in 1981, the film gives a hilarious account of the final day of a summer camp. Starting at dawn, the viewer is taken through the daylong regimen of Camp Firewood’s building preparations for the time-honored tradition of a camp talent show. Under the guidance of camp director Beth (Janeane Garofalo, “200 Cigarettes”), both counselors and campers plan to make their final day memorable as a summer of sexual frustration and emotionally traumatic stress comes to a close.
The plot is surprisingly strong for a parody, which usually relies on a series of loosely tied together one-liners and humor intended for cheap, quick laughs that require little thought. With the exception of a few uproarious scenes of throwaway humor, including a game of “capture the flag,” where a Kenyan marathon runner comes out of nowhere to take the flag and propel his team to victory, and a motorcycle chase scene that is halted due to the presence of a bale of hay in the middle of the street, “Wet Hot American Summer” does an outstanding job of sustaining character.
Considering the limitations a parody can pose and the many clichés that often persist, David Wain does an outstanding job in his directorial debut, which he co-wrote with Michael Showalter. Wain maintains a believable plot throughout the movie while satirizing ’70s and ’80s teen films and other subjects ranging from issues as minute as French kissing and Dungeons and Dragons to tackling war-film stereotypes like the psychoses of Vietnam veterans.
The film’s cast is deeply experienced in various forms of comedy including television, improvisation, stand-up and sitcoms. While the most recognizable star is Garofalo, it also receives commendable performances from David Hyde Pierce (Niles on “Frasier”), as a shy but helpful astrophysics professor, Molly Shannon (“Saturday Night Live”), as an arts and crafts counselor who shares her marriage problems with pre-pubescent campers and Amy Poehler (“Saturday Night Live,” “Upright Citizens Brigade”), as a moody music director who uses high-pitched rants to express the art of a musical play. The brilliant MTV sketch comedy series “The State” is represented by five cast members of the since-cancelled series, including Michael Ian Black (“Ed”). The film credits also feature countless alumni from comedy theatres such as The Second City and The Groundlings.
However, the true standout performance belongs to Christopher Meloni (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Oz”), for dominating his scenes as Gene, a borderline insane Vietnam veteran who serves as the camp’s head chef. Meloni stars in perhaps one of the funniest moments in parody history when he finally comes to terms with his sexual identity with the help of a non-perishable food item and a large kitchen appliance. The character of Gene single-handedly parodies an assortment of Vietnam-era movies including “Apocalypse Now,” “The Deer Hunter” and “Full Metal Jacket.”
While most of the commercial public will not understand this movie’s humor (it certainly didn’t when the film was released theatrically in July of 2001), this is a must for anyone who is interested in the Zucker brothers’ style of humor, which goes beyond the surface of a joke and satirically penetrates the clichés of a film genre. For people who liked “Not Another Teen Movie” and “Scary Movie” but were left wanting more substance and witty intelligence, “Wet Hot American Summer” will fill the void that those and countless other parodies could not.
Grade: A
