Wet Hot American Summer

Nowadays, Hollywood films are mostly pitched at folks who are college-age or younger. Studios consider us a reliable audience, and we reward their caution and confidence by showing up in droves to see things like moronic teen sex comedies. It is somewhat strange, then, that USA Films has released "Wet Hot American Summer," which seems to have its market priorities all out of order. This film, written and directed by Michael Showalter and David Wain of MTV's sketch comedy troupe "The State," savagely parodies teen sex comedies that take place at summer camp, a subgenre which attained and fell from prominence in the late 70s and early 80s.

Thus, while the objects of "Wet Hot American Summer"'s satire were assaulting moviegoers, the normal target audience was either in diapers, in utero, or flat-out incorporeal, rather than inebriated, which is what you would be hoping for as a studio. The natural audience for this film appears to be 40-year-olds who loved summer-camp teen sex comedies in their youths and still can't get enough juvenile humor, and perhaps a smattering of young people who watch way too much of the USA Network yet still occasionally leave the house to see movies.

Given that there are about three hundred people who fit this description, USA Films is obviously hoping that people who have not seen the objects of parody will nonetheless come and enjoy themselves. Is this possible? Sort of.

I am unfamiliar with summer-camp teen sex comedies, and when I watched the film, there were vast stretches which made absolutely no sense, but which seemed to be pointing in a humorous way to something incredibly stupid that happened earlier in cinematic history. There's nothing quite as dispiriting as being told a joke which you can tell would be funny if you had any way to understand it, and that is the situation most viewers will be in for most of "Wet Hot American Summer." It's a pretty bewildering experience.

On the other hand, the plot is easy to crib and deride: It's the last day of camp, and everyone wants to get laid, because otherwise a summer of moral, intellectual and physical development will have been valueless, because none of that crap took place, because everyone was trying to get laid all summer.

The stock characters of the teen sex comedy are there, too, and easy to laugh at. Uptight, out-of-it camp director Beth (Janeane Garofalo) has a crush on another uptight, out-of-it person, mediocre astrophysicist Neuman (David Hyde Pierce). Nerdy, sensitive Coop (writer Showalter) has a crush on hottie Kate (Marguerite Moreau), but she prefers the rugged good looks and uncaring belligerence of her boyfriend Andy (Paul Rudd). And there is much, much more, as Showalter and Wain wisely decide to present hysterically exaggerated types rather than characters, shifting relentlessly between the six or seven other subplots to avoid audience fatigue. Unfortunately, the relentlessly flat direction keeps the comic mood much the same in between subplots, and eventually the switching itself becomes tedious.

Nevertheless, there is a whole lot of comedic talent in this film, and it gets to shine fairly frequently. Garofalo and Hyde Pierce both do good jobs relentlessly emphasizing their characters' basic faults and overall stupidity, to often-hilarious effect. Rudd gives a wonderful physical interpretation of pointless intransigence; his whole body seems to snarl when he is asked the simplest questions, and it makes the various ladies' attachment to him that much more amusing.

Perhaps the funniest stuff comes from Christopher Merloni as camp chef Gene, who attempts to overcome both his traumatic Vietnam War experience and his shame at his various deviant sexual practices with the help of a talking can of mixed vegetables. And there are various other small pleasures sprinkled throughout the movie, particularly a smattering of jokes that appear to refer to Jewish-summer-camp teen sex comedies (Beth hollers to camper "David Ben-Gurion" at one point), which I didn't even know was a (sub-sub)genre.

Still, the most enjoyable thing in this film is probably the Chubb Rock song that plays during the closing credits, which is old-school in a way that a hell of a lot more people can relate to than teen sex comedies set at summer camp. It's kind of astonishing that this film exists, and kind of astonishing that it's as funny as it is. But you, your eight bucks and your taste for juvenile humor will be better served by "American Pie 2" or "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." Showalter and Wain may think that everyone's still living in a "Wet Hot American Summer," but after ninety minutes in the heat and humidity, you'll be looking for a towel and some air conditioning.

INSIDE THE MIND, SUCH AS IT IS, OF A MOVIE REVIEWER: IGNORANCE IS SO DAMN BLISSFUL

You may have noticed that parts of this review are written in an unusually subjective voice. I must confess that in this one case, I consider my ignorance (in this case, my ignorance about teen sex comedies set at summer camp) to be an asset, rather than a liability. Owen Glieberman (Entertainment Weekly) and David Ansen (Newsweek) both loved "Wet Hot American Summer," but their opinions may be colored by the satisfaction of parodic revenge for crappy films, even if the revenge was served ice-cold. I have no such vendetta, and for people who don't have the experience which Glieberman and Ansen were presumably forced to, I wrote a more useful review. In my opinion, anyway. But I felt the need to disclose my ignorance about these films so people who, God help them, have seen a bunch of them can feel free to make their own decisions.

Also, I know I misused the word "incorporeal" slightly. But I liked the sequence enough that I (mostly) don't care.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY REFERENCE ALERT

There is one kid at the camp who is extremely pleased to consider himself a deejay, and who provides establishing voiceovers. The moment when the counselors force him to take a shower after three apparently excruciating showerless months elicits the biggest smile possible without actually eliciting laughter. Anyway, he tells the campers that "those of you in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area can catch me on Jewish Day School radio in the fall," or something to that effect. Thought you'd want to know.

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