Happy Campers

Daniel Waters, the writer of Heathers, takes a turn in writing and directing his latest feature: Happy Campers. If Meatballs could be remade with more, younger, and edgier camp counselors, than this would be the film. Some parallels can be made between this film and Heathers, showing that Waters knew which elements worked: both have an overweight child who is picked on, then is later highly respected; both have a song/jingle that is overplayed, which drive a main character crazy; and both try to invent new words and catch phrases. Happy Campers also looks to be inspired from various aspects of Shakespeare. Someone says, "...doth protest too much," straight out of Hamlet; The term "fairies" is thrown around and the head counselor's name is Oberon, who was king of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream; and they toy with the idea of death by poisoning, which is a common end to many Shakespearean tragedies. I greatly enjoyed this film - It took chances, and fought to stay out of the "cleaned-up summer camping movie" category. There's enough shock value here to leave a mark in your moral judgment!

What so many have tried, works only here. "Wet Hot American Summer" tried it and failed, "Scream", although scary and brilliantly referential, lost its emotions on the way, and Kevin Smiths "Mallrats" caught but a few glimpses of it. Only Daniel Waters managed to pull it off. Here it is ladies and gents, a heartfelt homage to something (seemingly) impossible to pay tribute to - late seventies/early eighties teen flicks (camp or slasher factor put aside).

Lacking a strong narrative, "Happy Campers" seems to be drifting along without a clear flow, but the way the movie changes gears from obvious dumb-founded Teen-Comedy to a rather insightful character study is just amazing. To direct something bad is easy, to direct something good is hard, but to take something that was once bad and elevate it to a meaningful and even touching movie about adolescence is next to impossible. Sure the odd bits and pieces sometimes don't fit together, but anything this loosely structured is bound to have a few things falling by the way side.

Nevertheless, I think only a handful of people could have been able to get away with a movie of this sort. Waters with the "Heathers" credit under his wings is definitely among the chosen ones. And after not having been connected with any kind of movie, at least credit wise, for almost a decade, this directorial debut contains all the trademarks that made him a cult hero for so many aspiring screenwriters (me being one of them).

The Verdict: The same that applies to "Heathers" - either you get it or you don't. If you do, I should agree with some of the other reviewers that this movie has cult potential. If it leaves you cold...it wasn't for you, but I hope it will some day.

I tried to think back to my 12 year self and I think she would have liked Happy Campers. Brad Renfro was great and even if his career has been reduced to guest spots in Ghost World, I still think he has talent. There was a "be yourself" message, but it was twisted rather than sparkling clean. I liked that. I liked the film (don't tell anyone). I just wish the writer hadn't tried so hard to make Midsummer's Night Dream references. A good teen movie is frivilous and meaningful and this was both.

When the strict camp director of Camp Bleeding Dove (Peter Stormare of "Fargo" and "the Big Lebowski") gets electrocuted, the group of freshman camp counselors (including Jamie King of "Sin City", in her first role, and yes she gets topless) have to run the summer camp by themselves. Because of their personalities, they start to clash with each other. The Movie was funny in parts, but I think I was expecting more from Daniel Waters, I mean the cat gave us Heathers, Ford Fairlane, and Demolition Man. Not to say this is a bad movie in the least, just that it's sadly mediocre in every way.

My Grade: C+

Eye Candy: Jamie King goes topless

Daniel Waters guaranteed himself a place in cinema history with his debut screenplay "Heathers", one of the sharpest, blackest and downright original films of the second half of the eighties. Yet in the meantime he has seemingly enjoyed his well-paid limbo in hackville, churning out scripts ranging from the what-was-he-thinking (yes "Hudson Hawk", we mean you) to the sublime (the second and best installment in the Batman franchise). Thus the phrase "Daniel Waters' directorial debut" immediately raises expectations, will it be a twisted and perverted return to his "Heathers" world view? The answer is yes.

The premise is as warped as one would expect - a black, and I mean black, satire on the banal summer camp genre, using it as a metaphor for the point in our lives when, as teenagers, our childhood innocence gives way to the disappointments and tribulation of adulthood. If this sounds pretentious that's because it is, wildly so, but one has to give Waters some credit for not simply churning out a "Heathers" clone ("Jawbreaker" did us that favor). And while the characters are nowhere near as nihilistic as in that film (more so they are skewered stereotypes), the film does, particularly in the second half, move into bleak territory. The film's primary saving grace, besides a typically biting screenplay from Waters, is his outstanding casting, notably Stormare, Swain, Renfro and, particularly, the underused Bergl, all of whom deliver fine performances but struggle with the main flaw in Waters' script, none of the characters are very likable. It's not a great film, in fact it is a very flawed one, but it is never anything but ambitious and frequently very funny. It also makes an interesting double bill with "Wet Hot American Summer", another off-the-wall satire on the genre released the same year. Let's just hope we don't have to wait so long for his next film.