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Wet Hot American Summer: Michael Showalter
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Sex, drugs, car wrecks, spacecraft, radio celebrities, David Hyde Pierce, and more: Wet Hot American Summer has it all! Loaded with absurd laughs, this film is a refreshing twist on '80s teen angst and summer camp. Viewers who like to forget they're watching a film, beware: The characters and the film itself are constantly aware of themselves as a spectacle, and a lot of the humor relies on a viewer's ability to laugh at filmmaking. Writers David Wain and Michael Showalter (The State) found creative ways to "adhere" to action film conventions and create laughs in unusual places by their characters' strange reactions to the events in the script. Subtly downplayed, many big names like Jeannine Garofalo, Michael Showalter, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Marguerite Moreau, and the aforementioned David Hyde Pierce appear in a hilarious mess of events intertwined by one thing: the last day of summer camp. Director David Wain's first full-length feature made its debut at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, and due to limited distribution, only screened in selected lucky theaters.
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Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, "Wet Hot American Summer" follows a group of counselors who are each trying to complete their unfinished business before the day ends. The entire summer of pent-up sexual frustrations, unresolved post-traumatic stress, pending separations and of course, the talent show, all weigh heavily on the minds and groins of counselors and campers alike. At the center of the action is the camp director Beth (Janeane Garofalo) who must keep order while falling in love with local astrophysics expert, Associate Professor Neuman (David Hyde Pierce), who in turn is trying to save the camp from a deadly, falling piece of a NASA space station. Even with the aid of the dorkiest kids in camp, Neuman has precious little time to fall in love, avert disaster and finally gain tenure. Far deeper than just 'falling,' Coop (Michael Showalter) has long been infatuated with the beautiful Katie (Marquerite Moreau). With sexy but dumb lifeguard Andy (Paul Rudd) in the equation, Katie has no time for a sensitive guy like Coop.
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Wet Hot American Summer is equal parts parody and absurdist sketch-comedy. The target seems to be trashy teen movies from the late 1970s and early '80s—mindless, formulaic pap like Meatballs, G.O.R.P., Porky's, Midnight Madness, and even the familiar formula of The Bad News Bears—brainless comedies consisting mostly of strung together stock characters and "titillating" nudity gags. Co-writers David Wain and Michael Showalter dissect these films, though they seem already so inane as to be self-parodying, and when viewed through the skewed perspectives of these two oddballs, the material becomes transcendent. Wet Hot American Summer is not just a spoof, but an inspired deconstruction of an entire generation of films and moviegoers, the last gasp of "innocent" humor before the teen comedy became equivalent with irony (a.k.a. John Hughes). All this, and a scene where a grown man humps a fridge.
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Wet Hot American Summer is one of the rare movies of 2001 where describing the plot simply won’t correlate to what’s on screen. Showalter and director and co-writer David Wain don’t spoof any one movie in particular, but they revel in the absurdities of the horrible sitcoms, teen movies, and Afterschool Specials of their youth. Ever notice how old Hollywood’s teenagers are? Well, the obviously twentysomething Moreau plays a 16-year-old. Did you ever notice how many inspirational dance numbers/exercise scenes were in 1980s movies? Wain and Showalter sure have, and their take on it is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.
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July 27, 2001 | It may be that the teen comedy and summer-camp spoof "Wet Hot American Summer" will have some lasting value to film schools as a model of how not to make a comedy. It's really a model of how not to make anything. Directed by David Wain, who co-wrote the film with star Michael Showalter (both of them of the MTV comedy series "The State"), "Wet Hot American Summer" is a thoroughly inept piece of moviemaking. You're more likely to find a ham sandwich at a Passover seder than to find a laugh in this picture. Ba-dum-bum.
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Wet Hot American Summer is a comedic film released in 2001, directed by David Wain and co-written by Wain and friend Michael Showalter, who ... starred in the film. It is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made, and holds the record for winning the most Academy Awards of any film in history, nabbing a win in every single category. Yes, including both screenpay categories. Get bent.
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Michael Showalter