Wet Hot American Summer

Mindless fun?

Wet Hot American Summer

Wet Hot American Summer revives a movie trend that was best left for dead 

Between the late 1970s and the late 1980s, Hollywood cranked out scores of "teen sex comedies", ostensibly targeted at the teen market, but usually rated R and more popular with young adults. Only in the hands of the most talented writers and directors would something truly memorable like Fast Times at Ridgemont High result. More often it was some forgettable film with "Hot" in the title, like Malibu Hot Summer, Hot Chili, Hot Moves, or Hollywood Hot Tubs.

In hindsight, one of the most remarkable things about these movies is how tame they really were. The aforementioned Fast Times at Ridgemont High originally received an "X" rating, butdespite the titillating titles, there was rarely much explicit sex. Some were too timid to even show toplessness. 

So without the sex, these "sex comedies" were left with just the "comedy" part, which also was often lacking as casting emphasized physically attractive young people rather than comedic talent. All of which adds up to a trend that was best left in the 1980s shopping mall theaters from which they came.

But along comes Wet Hot American Summer to revive everything we never missed about these films. Basically taking it's cues from Meatballs (albeit without a talent like Bill Murray in a major role), Wet Hot American Summer is set at a summer camp, and pretty much follows is a hit (rarely) and miss (frequently) collection of gags over the course of one season at a fictional summer camp in Maine.

Even though the film wallows in early 80s nostalgia, even the soundtrack (usually the saving grace of these kinds of films) is populated with the boring overplayed arena rock by bands also best forgotten like Quarterflash, Foreigner and Loverboy.

Proving once again that there's no accounting for taste, the film has managed to garner a cult following and spawn two Netflix spinoff series, although true to form, there's no nudity, few laughs, and not much to recommend here.