Summer Camp

I wanted to love this movie. With a cast like Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard you would expect this film to be damn near perfect or at least funny. But I am not going to blame the cast for this epic failure. It comes down to the writing. What is going on with writing scripts for actors of this generation of late, take for example the latest Book Club, which was another failure. Writers need to get their act together and start delivering decent scripts that do justice for these amazing actors. This really is not good enough. Like I said in the title, the best bits were the bloopers during the end credits. Such a disappointment.

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.

Is it just me or does Diane Keaton not know how to play ANY other character types? My gosh, she is so one-dimensional. I cannot remember the last time I actually saw her act. She wears the same clothes, same glasses, same haircut, same sthick (Oh! Silly me!)... Yet Hollywood acts as if she's SO fabulous. Her movies are nothing but self-congratulatory fluff. Clearly Hollywood is desperate for new story lines. It's like watching re-runs over and over again. Mack and Rita? Puh-lease! The same neurotic character over and over and over! Stop already! Summer Camp? Really? Alfrie Woodard and Cathy Bates? Awesome.

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.

Stuff like this does nothing to empower middle aged/ older women. Alfre Woodard was the best in the bunch, but everyone else's character was so two dimensional, and the actresses tiresomely typecast. Diane Keaton in menswear being neurotic and meek, Kathy Bates being outspoken and funky- just unimaginative. Then you add in the sigh worthy "money is no object" because one character is so rich and famous that things practically magically appear... hello, Hollywood, if you're listening, it's NOT RELATABLE. This is for grown women, If you want us to connect with it, stop with the fantasy of limitless materialistic indulgences.

I think SOMEONE thought this was a portrayal of "strong, independent women" but it's trite and superficial.