I Can't Believe You Haven't Seen Wet Hot American Summer

Amy Poehler and Bradley Cooper in
  Wet Hot American Summer

David Wain's 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer is the definition of a cult classic.  Sometimes a movie becomes a cult classic because it didn't have a wide release, there weren't enough big names involved, it's a very niche film or it's just plain weird.  Wet Hot American Summer is a healthy combination of all of these, emphasis on the weirdness.  With the prequel series produced by Netflix recently being released, this comedy has been brought back to the light, an we should all be thankful that it has.

Story:
Wet Hot American Summer is all over the place.  There is no coherent plot, but it focuses around the tribulations of many wacky camp counselors as they wrap up their summer on the last day of camp.  The comedy is very meta at times and very childish at other times.  This movie bounces between sophisticated, witty dialogue, and run of the mill fart jokes.  In general the film feels like a sketch comedy show more than an actual movie, which is good because it plays to the strengths of the actors who star.

Characters:
This film has a lot of characters, some who are very likable, and others that are simply there for the gags.  But what is most fun about this movie is going back and seeing some very famous actors at the beginning of their careers.

Michael Showalter co-wrote the film and plays
the character of Coop

This movie features Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Christopher Meloni, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, and many other comedians that all came together early in their careers to make this film.  As an audience member you can feel how much fun it must have been for all these funny people to get together and make what is definitely a passion project.

The film mostly focuses on Michael Showalter's character Coop, who is you average nice guy, and the only one who is actually a good camp counselor.  He cares about the kids and looks after their feelings because he can relate to their over-romanticized outlook on life.

The real laughs come from Paul Rudd's character Andy.  Andy is a terrible camp counselor, accidentally letting two kids drown (in a dark, humorous way) because he was too busy flirting with other counselors and campers.  Seeing Rudd play what is supposed to be a 'bad boy' is fun because he plays it in such a dry, ironic way.

Cinematography:

Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks

David Wain is not very well known.  Wet Hot American Summer is probably his most notable piece of work, and even that took a few years to gain notoriety.  He has a very niche style of comedy and storytelling, which some people will like and others despise.  Overall I think this movie was ahead of it's time.  Presently, the meta and dry, awkward humor has caught on more thanks to shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation, both of which you can tell draw their roots from comedy like Wain's.  It is also evident that this style of humor has left an impact on the actors, as people like Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd continue to make movies and TV shows with such niche comedy.  This was a fun movie, not very groundbreaking or particularly memorable, but culturally important because of it's uniqueness and many differences to mainstream comedy.

Christopher Meloni before his fame on Law and Order: SVU

OVERALL GRADE: 6.2/10