Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later

Although not a masterpiece, the original movie from 2001 is a charming and entertaining one. It was funny. The sequels have been disappointing, with every installment progressively worse.

Everything about Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later screams "first draft". It's like they were spit balling in the writer's room saying "wouldn't it be funny if" and it never progressed beyond that step. I have witnessed that firsthand on comedy projects I have worked on where the writers are howling with laughter and slapping each other on the back, just to have everything fall flat when you shoot it and hand it over to the poor editor who is the one who has got to try and save it.

Perhaps one problem is that the core croup come out of sketch comedy via The State. There is no narrative flow to Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. It's easier to mask that in a 90 minute movie, like the original, but when you stretch it for 8 episodes (or rather 16 episodes, since both Netflix shows have the same structure) it becomes quite tedious.

One show also made by people from The State that manage to pull this off beautifully is Reno 9/11 (one of my favorite shows). But the structure of that show (essentially a COPS parody) lends itself perfectly to the sketch format, it doesn't have the need for the same narrative flow that Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later aspires to.

But the cardinal sin with Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later is that it unlike the original movie, isn't very funny. Most ideas are half baked, and the actors are going through the motions. It didn't help that every time someone shouted "Walla-walla-hoo!" I wanted to kick their teeth in.

Perhaps the original movie was lightning in a bottle.

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.

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

Showalter is a genius, a genius! Just thigh slapping, tear-jerking laughs throughout that won't stop.

My only complaint, and it's a biggie: Janeane Garofalo's HORRID cosmetic surgery. She looks as if she is a face-transplant survivor, you've seen them, they get some cadaver's face onto their own, and it just hangs there perpetually suspended and creepy. Well, that's what Garofalo's face looks like. It was so distracting, in every scene she's in I could do nothing but gape at her awful poor face. I don't think she was capable of making any expression except stunned apathy- if that is an emotion, that's hers. Her mouth is like Mr. Toads in a perpetual frown. In the very last episode, she manages to grin!! How did that happen? She must have gotten some special anti-toxin injection, as it was the sole instant in the entire series where I saw her face other than deadpan.

I feel this was truly written for fans of the film, whereas First Day of Camp was written for kids who didn't really understand the film.

Best of all, pretty much every character from the movie is back. If you love the film, this is worth a go.