#LGBTQMustWatch: “Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later”!

Wet Hot American Summer (2001) was one incredible comic surprise when I first saw it, an overlooked gem.  It’s an absurdist spoof of summer camp films like Little Darlings (1980), Poison Ivy (19850 and Meatballs (1979).

How can you not love with a movie that has a pep talk from a talking can of vegetables or dramatic chase scene where the person doing the chasing is thwarted by a single barrel of hay in the middle of a wide-open road? Oh, and there is also a hilariously rapid descent into the underworld of drugs and despair by the kids spending an hour away from camp in town. What other film would feature Amy Poehler and Bradley Copper directing and choreographing a truly demented camp talent show; or Michael Ian Black marrying Cooper in a ceremony in a lake? How about a Shakespearean-themed barn dance?

The film features a large ensemble cast, including: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, Cooper, and Poehler.

It takes takes place during the last full day at a summer camp in 1981; director/co-writer David Wain has said that he was inspired by films like Nashville (1975), Dazed And Confused (1993) and Do The Right Thing (1983) that take place in one very contained time period and have different characters. Because of the film’s relatively small budget, the cast was paid very little; Rudd has stated that he is uncertain if he received any money for the film.

Janeane Garofalo officiates at Bradley Cooper and Michael Ian Black’s wedding, Eureka Pictures

When first released, Wet Hot American Summer was a critical and commercial failure, but it developed a cult following on video. More and more people talked about how it was a favorite film. In summer 2015, Netflix released an eight-episode prequel, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp starring most of the film’s original cast, plus adding: Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine, John Slattery, Jordan Peel, Josh Charles, Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Jayma Mays and Randall Park to the madness.

Tonight, August 4, the entire gang, well, almost the entire gang, is back for Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, a third installment in a comedy franchise that started with a film hardly anyone saw when it first came out in 2001 and keeps gaining speed.

This chapter features bad 1990s hair and fashions as the gang returns in 1991, their lives as messed up as ever, unaware that powerful forces are plotting to destroy the camp that they love so much. Even that talking can of vegetables is back!

New cast members include: Alyssa Milano, Dax Shepard, Mark Feuerstein and Marlo Thomas.

After watching the first three episodes today, I kept wondering when did Chris Pine become the most adorable actor ever? Pine is having a really good summer, co-starring as a hero in the blockbuster Wonder Woman and now playing a stoner in this project. He steals the show.

Co-writer and cast member Michael Showalter is also making a big splash this summer as the director of the hit film, The Big Sick, with Kumail Nanjiani, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano. His film from last year, Hello, My Name Is Doris with Sally Field is a must watch.

Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later hilariously breaks the fourth wall on occasion and references the film and the earlier Netflix series. One character tells another that he’ll see her again in the next episode. An original cast member removes his fake mustache while the cameras are still rolling and leaves, taking his Emmy Award with him.

Now Streaming on Netflix.

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