Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

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!!

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

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.

Yes it's a stupid show, that's the point. Don't take it serious. It's fun it's not meant to be a serious show. They literally go out of their way to make it that way. So much star power, they are having fun and so should you.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is a terrific comedy series with well written episodes and a star studded comedic cast. It's a very fun show that will surely please any die hard fans of the original 2001 movie, it has all the same goofy, slapstick and straight up ridiculous humour that people have come to expect from Showalter and Wain. It definitely had many noticeably flaws that bothered me, although they may not have been of huge concern to many others, first off I wasn't very found of all eight episodes taking place in one day, it's fine for a movie, but not for eight episodes that are all thirty minutes each, I think it would have given the writers more creative freedom to have each one take place in a different day instead, revolving on their first week of camp. Also, the jokes about the age gaps of the actors and their characters was overused, it was already stated with their clothing and personalities, it didn't need to be stated so often, with characters mentioning they were "too young to drink alcohol" or a girl mentioning she just started her period, I think if they do have another reunion it would be better for it to be set years after the events of the first movie, possibly with the cast taking control of Camp Firewood. The cast is definitely a delight, there isn't a single member from the movie who dosen't return, Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Marguerite Moreau, Michael Ian Black, Elizabeth Banks and Janeane Garofalo, just to name a few, are all back in action, and some great new characters, played by the likes of Jason Schwartzman, John Slattery, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm, among many others, and somehow none of them end up feeling underused. However, my favourite part of the whole series had to be Christopher Meloni, who actually wasn't my favourite character in the first movie (that being David Hyde Pierce, who sadly only features in two episodes, both times very briefly), but he steals every scene he is in this time around, and Gene is as cool as he's ever been. It definitely had many imperfections, but Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is still a great laugh that gets better for each episode, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good comedy series.

During the summer of 1981, we follow the campers of Camp Firewood on their insane first day.

Best Performance: Christopher Meloni Worst Performance: Michael Showalter (as President Reagan)

Best Episode: Day is Done Worst Episode: Campers Arrive