Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

We tried watching the movie (which I'd never heard of until about a week ago), and just didn't get it. But we decided to try the show anyway since 40-somethings in wigs playing teens seemed like an amusing idea. And it was! For me, that joke never got old. Besides that, there were some great parody story lines, playing on old TV and movie tropes, that I found very funny.

-Standout Actors-

The show is worth watching for Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks alone. They both went hilariously over the top, plus their story lines were among the funniest. Kristen Wiig, Josh Charles, Chris Pine, and Michael Cera were standouts in smaller roles, for the same reason.

-This show is polarizing -- for a reason-

Some people won't get the humour here, perhaps because they just don't appreciate irony and absurdism. But maybe there's another reason… I think some people haven't been exposed to all the cheesy after school specials and movies of the week that this show is parodying. TV has become pretty sophisticated in the past decade or so; it's not quite as innocent (and in some cases, silly) as it used to be. And if you're not familiar with what's being parodied, it's hard to get the joke.

When I saw this pop up on Netflix I was intrigued by the cast. It had to be funny right? I tried to watch the first couple episodes and left midway through the second. I didn't know if it was because I did not see the movie or what. It just did not seem funny or nostalgic. That was a few months ago, fast forward to this summer and I saw that the WHAS 10 years later was out. So I decided to check that out, just to see if it was anything better. I don't know why but I found it hilarious, I loved the first episode so much I immediately stopped watching and went back and started watching the original series, then the movie that started it all. Maybe I didn't get it the first time or the "10 years later" premise sparked a renewed interest. The idea of these older comedians playing kids was magic and their naivete made it priceless. For whatever reason you gave up on it from the start, try it again, you might be glad you did.

Wet Hot American Summer First Day of Camp is the newest Netflix original series and it is a continuation of the 2001 Film Wet Hot American Summer. The film has many of the same stars and has some new ones such as Chris Pine, Jason Schwarzmann, Michael Cera and numerous other recognizable stars. The series explores life at summer camp to and extreme level and also to a some what relatable level at some times however for the most part the series is absurd and unrealistic which is not necessarily a bad thing as most of the comic aspects of the film rely on dry humor and the crazy things the characters do. The characters feel like cartoon characters and the whole show feels like a real life cartoon, I could not help but think of Cartoon Network's Camp Lazloo when I watched this which is a very unique new type of comedy from the traditional less absurd comedies such as Big Bang Theory and Silicon Valley. The series will not be as enjoyable to all who do not enjoy this ridiculous humor however the stunning cast and filmography will be a definite treat.

8.5/10

WHAS:FDoC is awesome. Its not really a series of 30m stand alone episodes, its much better digested as one looong movie which is easily watched over a couple sessions. Fortunately netflix makes this easy.

The show is a lot of fun. As with the movie, its not really easy to describe. Its part parody but often played very straight and not even necessarily for the joke. There's a lot of the show (and movie) which come across as a straight forward camp storyline. Some of the jokes miss. Some a predictable. But when you put it all together its a TON OF FUN. There's goofy stuff. There's creative bits. There's wonderful cameos. Amazing setpieces. Perfect music. And a lot of laughs. It also manages to poke fun at at least five or six movie/TV themes (camp films, courtroom drama, rock bio, military, coming of age, etc).

It should be noted that the finished product is really pretty amazing given the limitations of schedule and trying to recapture the look/tone/feel of a movie made many years ago. They do some VERY creative camera-work and editing to stretch each actors involvement to feel like everyone was there the whole time.

So...check it out..and stick with it. The first few episodes are pretty straight forward..then stuff gets wacky around ep3 and doesn't let up. Its awesome!!

I had no expectations prior to watching this hilarious show. It borrows campy humor elements from Hot Shots, Police Academy, Scary Movie series, etc...I loved the original WHAS movie, this is great!!