Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Directed by David Wain
It's the last day of Camp Firewood's season, but there's still time for the big talent show, a little romance… and for everyone to be wiped out by the piece of NASA's Skylab that's hurtling toward Earth.
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What critics compared Wet Hot American Summer to
In the Wet Hot American Summer tradition, Meloni is off in his own, much funnier little movie.
From an early class-attendance scene that I’m convinced is a riff on Wet Hot American Summer to the boisterous tumult of the Graff household, where dinner seems to be a competitive sport in which everyone gets an on-field injury, there is a baseline of caustic humour here that feels made for Jews, by Jews.
Watching Booksmart in a decade or two is sure to feel the way watching Freaks and Geeks or Wet Hot American Summer does today, because each of these performers is surely on the path to stardom.
Maybe even shooting the film Wet Hot American Summer -style, and having the crew in their 70s claiming to be in their 30s without any de-ageing makeup, would have been less of a distraction.
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The cast—which also includes the always wonderful Elizabeth Debicki as a gold-covered priestess—certainly helps on that front, especially Cooper, who delivers a peppy and full-bodied vocal performance that may, curiously, be my favorite thing he’s done since Wet Hot American Summer.
I mean, he was cool in Wet Hot American Summer and The Midnight Meat Train and all, but his marquee projects have always left me cold, if not annoyed me outright.
Think about Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten (maybe not so much the latter, but in this case, it works).
The director is Michael Showalter, who co-wrote "Wet Hot American Summer."
Michael Showalter, a creator of the subversive Wet Hot American Summer, directs.
In a remarkable twist ending, Michael Showalter—whose most notable work as an actor or co-creator includes the surreal comedy troupes Stella and The State; the defiantly genre-tweaking Wet Hot American Summer; and the bizarre, neutron bomb of bafflement that is They Came Together—has emerged as a fine director of (dare I use the word?) mainstream romantic comedy.
The two hit it off quickly, settling blissfully into a relationship that director and Wet Hot American Summer alum Michael Showalter keeps just left of cutesy sitcom center.
Directed by Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer, My Name is Doris), the film is funny and sweet while not backing away from matters that romantic comedies don’t usually touch on, like serious illness, struggles in long-term marriages, and religion.
Kudos to director Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer) for keeping The Big Sick's shifting tones in perfect balance.
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The film is uproarious up to this point, but it begins to weaken as John must contend with Claire's hyper-obnoxious jock fiance Sack (Bradley Cooper, "Wet Hot American Summer"), a character of no redeeming value who Claire would never have put up with for so long.