Summer Camp

I didn't have super high hopes for "Summer Camp" after seeing the trailer and poster. Sure, the cast features some promising actors, but the overall delivery is cheesy, poorly developed and at times boring...

Let's start with our three leading females. Alfre Woodard probably is the best of the three, as she tries her best to make use of the material. Kathy Bates (in a questionable wig) is fine, but the creative team could have given her so much more to do. And then there is Diane Keaton playing Diane Keaton. Diane - I love you, but it's time to break out of your shell a bit.

Finally, there are a few charming moments, but they are minimized by the lackluster screenplay and okay direction. This is a film for actors to collect a paycheck and have a little fun, but don't expect much substance.

Very cute but also incredibly lacking. I generally love this genre of heartwarming film but Summer Camp was missing an anchor. The story was a bit uneven in pacing; some scenes seemed out of order, we could have flashed back to the younger campers a little more and I think it would have added to the emotional depth. The writing wasn't quite there and the acting also seemed flat for a large portion of the film. None of the emotion felt earned, it felt as though the audience was being told "this is an important moment" rather than feeling the important moments. There wasn't enough character development to really feel invested in the characters' journeys.

I am another who wanted to like this movie based on the actors. I love the friendship genre. I'm always down for a heartwarming comedy that isn't focused on romantic relationships as much. But this movie wasn't funny at all, except for the delightful Betsy Sodaro. I didn't laugh. I didn't cry. I didn't feel anything. I found Diane Keaton's character exceedingly grating with her constant ditsy lines and frequent and unnecessary shrieks at everything. I wanted her to be quiet and act like an actual educated scientist. Her acting/the character was such a put off for me that it ruined the entire movie. I would like to see Keaton in a more serious role to see if she can do anything else because this is such a schtick for her. Kathy Bates and Alfre W. Were okay. I think the writing was kinda just subpar here. The writers can't possibly be proud of this. I don't need to give spoilers because you can figure out what's going to happen immediately. Old friends who don't see each other enough gather. There's a conflict. They reconcile. Oops, did I give it away? Skip this one, guys.

Summer Camp (2024) is the latest dreadful film from Diane Keaton. This one is a total mess.

Yet another one of the old lady reunions, this time it's a reunion at a summer camp where, 60 years before, three gawky girls became friends. Wow. Over the next century they've grown apart. Wow. They all come back to camp and become friends again. Wow.

Keaton plays a PhD head of a research company ... but of course she's still the usual Keaton ditz. Kathy Bates plays a tough self-help guru with no private life, and Alfre Woodard plays a head nurse in a dead marriage. None of this really matters because at camp they flirt with the boys they knew 60 years before and have food fights and obsess about what they're going to wear. Written and directed by a 30-year-old female, these characters are totally stupid and unbelievable.

Bates and Woodard try but the material stinks. Keaton is especially irritating with all the same schtick from her Annie Hall days. There's also Eugene Levy and Dennis Haysbert and Beverly D'Angelo. By the book and boring.

Summer Camp features a promising cast. Unfortunately they are brought down by weird plastic surgery, a strange cairacture supptoring role, and a food fight between 60-somethings, which would never happen. The most real parts of the movie were in the very first scenes, when the main characters were girls.

The premise makes me wish I could return to my summer camp days: sleeping in a cabin, making frieds with other girls, doing arts and crafts, waterfront, and campfire.

This script did nothing for these star players. Costuming was totally unrealistic as well. I would have fallen asleep if I was watching this at home; fortunately I was in a theater with food and a beer.