This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
It’s been a great revival for the summer comedy in 2023. After a couple R rated studio comedy gems, Christopher Guest’s child has arisen to take back the mockumentary. Theater Camp is a movie the Waiting for Guffman director would be proud to call his child…but also chastise them for not understanding how to play a French prostitute at age 13 and TRY AGAIN!!!
It’s trying times for AdirondACTS in upstate New York. The camp’s creative force/mom Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris) has been flashing lighted into a coma, leaving her wanna be financial influencer son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) to run the camp in her stead. Not too pleased with this development are Joan’s loyal cohort, including free spirited Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) and acting jaded Amos Klobuchar (Ben Platt, actually playing the right age). However, the rival financial camp next door smells $$$, and tries to asses the financial stability of Troy and the gang over the course of the summer.
It’s clear from the get go that Theater Camp is made from experience. Molly Gordon must have spent some time in one of these places, and she makes sure we completely immerse in the ridiculous, complicated essence of this weird place. The minute we arrive at AdirondACTS, we’re in a suspended reality. There, kids can grow up and learn how to act and sing, unafraid of looking strange, or sometimes downright creepy, as they attempt to play their favorite theater characters like Fatime from Les Mis or Rum Tum Tugger from Cats. They are encouraged/despised by their teachers, who have their own personal dreams they’re trying to fulfill at camp, and can’t be threatened by more talented but innocent children ready to take their little fantasy like making a sexually charged biopic about Joan their fearless leader. Gordon and the mockumentary style capture the inherent hypocrisy and toxicity of this relationship, as Amos and Rebecca-Diane push these kids into their own lifestyles or wildly inappropriate acting exercises to endless guttural laughter from me. And yet, despite this constant one-upsmanship, when it comes time to put on the show, this place of strange wardrobes, hand me down equipment, and exasperated creatives rally together to make something out of seemingly thin upstate New York air, to the point that I was shockingly emotional by the time the credits rolled.
It’s not just Gordon either; the whole cast is game to play their parts, especially the teachers. Ben Platt’s essentially probably playing himself after the Evan Hansen fiasco: a dagger in theater form using his words to dress down people so he doesn’t have to think about the worst parts of himself. Caroline Aaron, Owen Thiele, and Nathan Lee Graham capture all find their own ways into the oversharing camp counselor/former actor more than happy to talk about performing naked in front of an audience. Even Ayo Edibri takes a break from cooking to play that one counselor who clearly wanted a summer vacation, content to phone in their “teaching,” and Noah Galvin gives that earnest “shimmering star” energy the movie needs to win the audience over. Jimmy Tatro is perfectly cast as a bro-y outsider and movie glue, trying to navigate the insane place he’s found himself, live streaming it all in the process. And finally, kids like Luke Islam and Bailee Bonick play their parts while playing their parts, showing impressive acting and singing chops hopefully Hollywood will take notice of.
Theater Camp completes “camp movie triple.” We got Crip Camp a few years ago for the drama/documentary lovers. Then we got Fear Street: 1978 for the camp horror crowd. But I’m especially happy we got the comedy camp movie. I grew up on movies like Heavyweights, and I’m sure Camp Rock strikes a nostalgic chord for the Disney Channel kids. Give us all sorts of camps! The crazy mish mosh of people that end up at them is like shooting fish in a comedy barrel, which the AdirondACTS I’m sure will turn into a Lin-Manuel Miranda inspired rap fantasia.