Wet Hot American Summer (5/10): More like Wet Hot Absurd Mess

“Hey, let's all promise that in ten years from today, we'll meet again, and we'll see what kind of people we've blossomed into.”

Its been almost 15 years since David Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer was released and I honestly had never heard of it. This was Wain’s first feature film but it bombed at the box office and wasn’t warmly received by critics either. Somehow over time it has become a cult teen comedy thanks to its wonderful cast, and now Netflix is about to release a comedy series with the same cast in the form of a prequel. The series will revolve around the first day of Summer camp in Camp Firewood in 1981, while this film focuses on the last day. The comedy plays out as a satire of camp films from the 80’s and it honestly feels like a movie made in that period. The actors wear tight shirts, colorful short shorts, and long white tube socks with eighties hair styles. The look and style of the film itself is worth a couple of laughs and Wain’s love and homage for these campy films transcends the screen. Unfortunately I didn’t find much else worth recommending other than a couple of hilarious scenes, but as a whole I found the absurdist humor a bit lame. This is a very different comedy than what we are used to seeing and it’s hard to point out any other film that has a similar style. That is why I believe it has become such a beloved cult comedy. Wet Hot American Summer is a parody in which you have no idea what direction the story is going to go and it constantly shifts its tone and introduces plenty of twists. Even though this film is basically a satire of camp films it doesn’t miss the opportunity at gleefully playing with familiar genre conventions such as teen rom-coms and sport cliches. These individual scenes work extremely well but they don’t make up a whole movie. That is why despite not being a fan of this film, I’m looking forward to the Netflix series because in shorter segments this could work well and the characters are worth revisiting.

On the final day of Summer Camp there is still so much things to look forward to such as the camp director, Beth (Janeane Garofalo), falling for an astrophysics professor played by David Hyde Pierce. There is also a romantic triangle formed between camp counselors Coop (Michael Showalter), Katie (Marguerite Moreau), and Andy (Paul Rudd). Katie is worried about Coop not having hooked up with anyone during the Summer and she promises to help him find someone special for him before the end of the day. What she doesn’t know is that Coop is in love with her, but she is currently dating Andy. Andy however doesn’t seem to care too much for her since he cheats on her with Lindsay (Elizabeth Banks). Susie (Amy Poehler) and Ben (Bradley Cooper) are focused on directing a musical for the talent show later that night, while Gail (Molly Shannon) is struggling to teach her arts and crafts class because her husband has recently left her. Victor (Ken Marino) and Neil (Joe Lo Truglio) are in charge of taking another group of kids water rafting, but Victor is eager to get back to camp so he can make out with Abby (Marisa Ryan). This is just a small sample of the many activities that are taking place on this final day with plenty of surprises and twists along the way, including an innocent escape into the city by a group of counselors that degenerates into something crazy and unexpected.

David Wain’s most successful film to date is probably Role Models, but Wet Hot American Summer has been growing on people ever since. Paul Rudd has collaborated with Wain in all his films and here he plays a cocky and egocentric character to perfection. There isn’t one main character, although if I was forced to pick one I’d say it is Michael Showalter’s Coop which isn’t really a surprise considering Michael co-wrote the screenplay with Wain. There are also some funny scenes involving the chef played by Christopher Meloni who is still suffering post traumatic stress disorder from the Vietnam War. The cast is fantastic here but there are so many characters that they don’t actually get much screen time. Bradley Cooper is now an Oscar nominated actor, but this was his first film so he doesn’t get much screen time. Marguerite Moreau was fantastic as well and it’s a shame she hasn’t really had much success after this. I recognized her from The Mighty Ducks franchise and it was fun to see her in a different role like this. The performances from this recognizable cast is probably the highlight of the film, but there are also several individual scenes that stand out such as the trip to the city and a hilarious motorcycle chase sequence.           

Inside Out (8/10): Pixar delivers another emotionally engaging wonder.

“Congratulations San Francisco, you've ruined Pizza! First the Hawaiians, and now YOU!”

Pixar has always raised the standards for animated films despite their latest weaker entries (Monster University and Cars 2), and fortunately Inside Out lives up to those expectations adding another emotional and moving entry to their long list of successes. Inside Out is inventive and imaginative in the way it portrays the emotional roller coaster that children go through growing up. In Inside Out the main character has to face moving to a new city and experiencing its new surrounding, and director Pete Docter manages to tell that story through the complexities of human emotions which we can all identify with. I did see many young kids get a bit bored and distracted by the emotional buildup of the story, but older kids and adults enjoyed the ride and got emotionally invested with the story (it got a bit dusty in the eye department). Younger kids might love louder films like Home which really don’t do anything inventive other than recycle simple gags, but thankfully Pixar goes beyond the easy appeal of those movies and makes intelligent and emotionally engaging animated films that will stick with you. For instance, in Inside Out the different emotions like Anger, Joy, Fear, Sadness, and Disgust are characters that Docter doesn’t simply introduce in a thoughtless or general manner to move the story along, instead he takes his time to create a carefully structured brain where these emotions try to guide the twelve year old girl named Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias). Docter has taken his time to introduce this world where the brain isn’t simply controlled by emotions, but there are other psychological elements involved such as memories, subconsciousness, and dreams. A lot of thought was put into the story and that is something rarely seen nowadays in animated films.

Riley is a twelve year old girl who has recently moved to a new city with her parents (voiced by Kyle MacLachlan and Diane Lane) after her father decides to start a new job in San Francisco. Leaving her friends and love for hockey behind in Minnesota she must learn to adapt to this new place. Her emotions guide her from within the headquarters of her mind, as Joy (Amy Poehler) is doing her best to keep things under control, but Sadness (Phyllis Smith) seems to get the best of her after a series of events seem to conspire against Riley. We are soon introduced to the other emotions in the control room: Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Disgust (Mandy Kaling) who all try to help guide her through the day and forge lasting memories that will shape her. However things take an unexpected turn when both Joy and Sadness get lost somewhere in the deep corridors of Riley’s brain and can’t seem to find their way back to the control room.

To be honest there were some moments that felt a bit slow and tedious while I didn’t find some of the jokes actually funny. However the film has several strong moments that managed to bring me back to the story and by the time we were approaching the final act of the film I was emotionally invested in it. The dream sequence was hilarious and well worth the price of admission alone, but I also enjoyed the time Docter took to tell the story and imagine this world from inside the mind of a twelve year old from a psychological standpoint. It’s an inventive movie that doesn’t forget about the adventure. I wouldn’t rank this as high as some of my favorite work from Pixar (Up, Ratatouille, and Toy Story 3), but it is a huge improvement from the latest entries. It surprisingly doesn’t settle for an easy ending either and I was pleased with the resolution. The final act of the movie is perhaps one of the reasons why I’ll give Inside Out a higher rating despite not being blown away during most of the film. It will probably grow on me with a rewatch. It is so rare that I haven't even mentioned how great the animation looks since there is so much to say about the engaging and emotional story.

My Review: Are You Here (3/10)

"That's the thing about friendship - it's a lot rarer than love; there's nothing in it for anybody."

I feel sorry for the Matthew Weiner fans out there who are approaching his first feature film basically for their love of Mad Men because there isn't anything here for anybody. The creator of the successful HBO series seems lost in his intentions with this film. The trailers are selling this film as a comedy and we'd expect that considering the fact it stars Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Poehler, all extremely hilarious comedic actors. But despite the fact that the first fifteen or so minutes begin as your average comedy, it ends up taking a rather unconventional and bizarre path. It would be much more appropriate to classify this film as a drama which tries to study the effects of mental illness, although it fails to do so. There are few films who have been able to pull it off (the most recent that comes to mind is David O. Russell's Silver Lining Playbook) because it is such a sensitive and reserved area. This film never really decides what it wants to be and the story takes unexpected directions (and I say this in a negative way). Nothing really makes sense and the characters never feel authentic; some of the decisions they make are confounding and disturbing. The decisions they make don't make sense at all, but the story goes on as if everything is perfectly normal and expects us to believe it. The biggest problem with Are You Here is that it lacks identity, it doesn't know what direction to take after establishing the characters and the premise. The tone of this film is so strange that it will engage very few audiences and I'm not one of them. This is neither a bromance nor a romantic comedy nor a serious attempt at examining mental illness, although at times the film seems to try to be all these things. It adds up to nothing. The greatest thing about Are You Here ended up being Galifianakis' shaved beard.

There was a time in the past when only seeing Owen Wilson on screen would tear me up no matter what, but his recent films haven't resonated with me so well and I haven't found him as funny as I once did. I am sure he will bounce back soon, but for now I really don't have high expectations for his films. Galifianakis has been either hit or miss with me and  he seems to play a similar character in most of his films. I'm not a huge fan of Amy Poehler unless she is working alongside Tina Fey. She is funny, but in a more serious role she feels completely miscast. Laura Ramsey was beautiful, but her hippie character had no personality and was perhaps the weakest character in the film whose motivations are never understood. As much as I admire these actors, I really can't think of one performance in this film that actually worked. There is no memorable comedic moment and there isn't anything worth examining about mental illness here either. If the film was trying to be a dramedy it failed completely because it never managed to do either. If you don't believe me go and see it for yourself, but at least I tried to warn you!