Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later

Wow. Despite the great reviews, I found "First Day At Camp" to be beyond boring. In addition to being so distracting that everyone was clearly 20 years older, there was just nothing there.

I love that this movie said screw it and after starting with the cutesy satire of "where are they now" schtick early on, it is unashamed to just go off the rails. Disparate story lines that somehow connect together, ridiculous "cameos" and story lines, and just good fun all around.

One of the more pleasant surprises that I have had watching a TV show in a long time

Have you ever seen someone tell one of their friends an inside joke that you weren't in on? That's this series for me. Clearly, the absurd characters are meant to be funny caricatures to begin with (especially with the wigs many are wearing), but they also say and do things that they believe are funny and sometimes other characters agree are hilarious. Maybe the joke is that they're idiots who find stupid things funny. I don't know. Maybe the entire series is a giant Andy Kaufman style joke on the viewers for watching and expecting humor.

I get that this was intended to be some sort of parody. Full disclosure, I have not seen the original movie or anything else from this franchise, but I can't imagine that affecting my opinion.

Humor is a subjective thing, so your experience may be different. This isn't a parody in line with Spaceballs, Scary Movie, Hot Shots, Galaxy Quest, Monty Python, or Tropic Thunder. It's not a style of humor like Groundhog Day or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Best I can tell, it's a sophomoric, awkward grimace, dry, situational humor similar to that found in "The Office" but even less grounded in reality. It's that sort of thing that maybe some laugh at because the situation is so nervous and cringe-worthy. It's a dry humor, but not a witty humor like found in Monty Python and other British works.

There must be an audience for this type of thing. I'm guessing there's some overlap between people who enjoy this and people who watch the USA version of "The Office" and Napoleon Dynamite. Those being hits in the states, there must be those that would love this. Just not me.

I think it's either hit or miss with this style of comedy, and for me, it's a miss.

Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later is a very enjoyable mini-series with loads of great moments and a phenomenal comedic cast. It is fun to see the majority of the cast from the original movie and the previous mini-series, First Day of Camp, come back playing appropriately aged versions of the characters that suit their acting range this time. Paul Rudd is particularly hilarious as an older version of Andy.

The series did not delight in every area, I will be honest, I certainly thought First Day of Camp was a more successful reunion series for the cult film, and it did feel here that they were pushing it a bit, at times. There were jokes and bits that went on for far longer than was necessar, and it definitely had some palpable scripting issues throughout.

However, we can put the flaws of the eight episodes aside and appreciate it for what it is, purely ridiculous, stupid comedy that consistently remains delightful. Not perfect but always entertaining, Wet Hot American Horror: Ten Years Later is solid and worth the watch for fans of the franchise.

The campmates of Camp Firewood return 10 years later, as they promised they would in the original movie, for chaos and shenanigans.

Horrible. If there is anything i have learned about new TV series' its that the pilot has to be a killer episode to get the viewers hooked for the rest of the series or at the least the next episode. I watched the first episode on netflix and could not wait to remove it from 'my list'. It attempts to draw humour from the daggy 90's references and style but the jokes just fall very short. In the first episode i laughed twice and one of those was a little forced, trying to influence my mind to find it funny but to no avail.

I have not seen the original movie or any other of the franchise so i do not know if the corny brady bunch style acting is supposed to be part of the humour but it didn't do it for me.

Don't waste your time with this one.

Well, being a fan of the movie and the series, I felt a little disappointed with the last installment of the series.

First of all, because they added some unnecessary characters, like Susie's (Amy Poehler) British and unfunny boyfriend. A new yuppie couple (Mark and Vivian) who is very intimate with J.J. (Zak Orth), and Coop's (Michael Showalter) fianceé. They were a nuisance, and I felt like their scenes were just not interesting or relevant to the whole plot.

I found some contradictions, because in the original film, McKinley and Ben are very closeted about their relationship, and they were very open in these episodes. Let's remember that this was the height of the Aids scare (before the movies like "Philadelphia" helped mainstream people to sympathize with HIV positive gays), and being openly gay was not so accepted at the time (especially in a place with children).

Susie and Ben were very close (they ran the drama classes) while they barely interact this time.

What was missing this time, were the children themselves. Despite one teenager alpha male (Deegs), there were no child humor like we saw in the movie and series, which used to make me laugh a lot.

There were some plot holes like what happened to Gail's former partner (in the end of the movie, she gets engaged to a 11 year old kid), what happened to the robot guy (who in the movie was J.J. brother), and in the end, there is a scene on the beach that I won't explain because there are spoilers.

I had a good time watching it, even though I think that I was hoping that Coop's love story would have ended differently.

The best of all for me is the bromance between Victor and Neil. The last being the professional sidekick of a person who is actually below him.

Watch, but keep expectations low.