Wet Hot American Summer

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Wet Hot American Summer
Wet Hot American Summer DVD cover
Directed by	David Wain
Produced by	Howard Bernstein
Written by	Michael Showalter David Wain
Starring	Janeane Garofalo David Hyde Pierce Michael Showalter Michael Ian Black
Distributed by	USA Films
Release date(s)	27 July 2001 (New York City)
Running time	97 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$5,000,000
IMDb profile

Wet Hot American Summer is a 2001 feature film.

The film is a comedy about the last day of summer camp in 1981. It stars Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Marguerite Moreau and members of MTV's sketch comedy group The State. It was directed by David Wain and co-written by Wain and Michael Showalter. Both are members of The State and Stella.

The setting is the fictitious Camp Firewood. It's the last day of summer camp, and the last day for each camper and counselor to find someone to kiss at the end of the big talent show that night. Beth (Garofalo), the camp director, struggles to keep her counselors in order—and her campers alive—while falling in love with Henry (Pierce), an astrophysics professor at the local college. Henry has to devise a plan to save the camp from a piece of NASA's SkyLab, which is falling to Earth. Coop (Showalter) has a crush on Katie (Moreau), his fellow counselor, but has to pry her away from her rebellious boyfriend, Andy (Rudd). Only Gene (Meloni), the shellshocked Vietnam vet and camp chef, can help Coop win Katie – with some help from a talking can of vegetables.

The movie is based on the experiences Wain had while attending Camp Modin, a Jewish camp, then located in Canaan, Maine. During one scene in the movie, the counselors take a trip into Waterville, Maine, which is not far from the camp. It is also a parody of summer camp movies made during the 1980s such as Meatballs.

Often called "Wet Hot," the movie has polarized audiences. It has gained a serious underground following, especially on college campuses. It may be called a modern-day Animal House, with fans quoting every single line, parties dedicated to dressing up like the characters, and midnight showings where both take place. The film itself follows The State's irreverent humor, with lots of absurdism, non-sequiturs, and toilet humor. Others have found the film dreadfully unfunny and very sloppily made.

The film was shot at Camp Towanda in Honesdale, PA and is rated R for adult humor and language.

A majority of the days spent filming were during rain, and the crew relished the rare times in which the sun was out. Several background shots in the movie, looking outside, inevitably have rain falling in them and / or grayish skies.

As the film is set in the 1980s, the film's soundtrack features songs from many popular 80s bands, most notably Jefferson Starship, Rick Springfield, Loverboy, KISS and Peter Salett.

1 Taglines
2 Trivia
3 Continuity errors and revealing mistakes
4 Characters
5 External links

[edit] Taglines

It was the last day of summer camp. It was the first day of the third week in August.
High Times. Hard Bodies. Soft Rock.
"Shut up kid, and just eat the fuckin' corn!!"

[edit] Trivia

Although filmed in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, this movie was based on Camp Modin (Belgrade, Maine), the summer camp of director David Wain.
Filmed in the off season (ie, the fall/winter), it rained for a large portion of the filming schedule. Exterior shots were filmed catch-as-catch can, and in many scenes, the viewer can see rain coming down outside during an interior scene, and in the next scene the characters will leave the building and the sun is shining.

[edit] Continuity errors and revealing mistakes

In the scene where Lindsay and the other girl counselors are stripping down to go into the lake, one of the girl counselors unhooks Lindsay's bathing suit top for her. In the next shot, her top is hooked back up again.
When Ben and Susie are talking to the kids about being in the talent show, if you look at the window behind them, it is raining, but a few seconds later when the scene changes to outside, it is a bright and sunny day.
During the scene where Andy throws his food on the floor, Beth is standing on a taped yellow X.
At the beginning of the movie, when Beth is talking to Henry for the first time, Henry's hands can be seen in the shot. When Beth says, "Space, the final frontier", he's holding them high and out while playing with the handle of the shovel. In the very next shot, both of Henry's arms are down by his waist.
At the very end of the Capture-the-Flag game, Coop and McKinley can be seen chasing the guy holding the flag. If you look at the other people running there's a guy in a bright red shirt and between shots he keeps switching between being on the right side of McKinley and the left.
Even though it's supposedly warm enough to go swimming and wear shorts, you can see the actors' breath as they speak. It's very noticeable in the first mess hall scene where Gene is yelling and later when Andy is watching the kid water-ski.

[edit] Characters

Beth- The director of Camp Firewood who falls in love with Henery
Henry- Astrophysicist who lives close to the camp. Beth convinces him to teach the kids about space but the two end up falling in love as Henry and the nerdy kids must stop a piece of skylab from falling onto the camp.
Coop- An innocent counselor who falls in love with Katie.
Katie- Andy's cute girlfriend who is confused choosing between Coop and Andy
Andy- A cool, rude, jerk in charge of water sports and the lake. He only cares about himself and cheats on Katie with Lindsay
McKinley- One of the memebers of the J.J., McKinley, Gary group who is gay with a fellow counselor, Ben.
J.J.- A fun member of the J.J., McKinley, Gary group who hangs around with Andy at the lake.
Gary- A member of the kitchen staff who hangs around with J.J. and McKinley. He works under Gene and usually points out the werid things he says.
Gene- Vietnam War veteran who is head of the kitchen staff. He is insane and enjoys doing absurd things like fondle his sweaters and humps the frige.
Can of Mixed Vegitables- a talking can of vegitables who tells Gene to be himself.
Gail- A divorced counselor who teaches arts and crafts. She breaks down and has to get therapy from the little kids in arts and crafts.
Arron- One of the kids who helps Gail through therapy. He eventually becomes her new husband.
Victor- A "ladies man" who is forced to go take the kids on a nature hike with Neil just as Abby wants to have sex with him. Victor embarks on a mission to get back to camp to be with Abby as Neil follows him.
Neil- Assigned to the hiking trip with Victor follows him after Victor ambandons him and the kids.
Lindsay- A hot girl who enjoys barbeques and likes Andy. She is the cause of his distractions at the lake.
Abby- A slut who gets with: Gary, J.J., Lindsay, and Victor
Ben- Producer of the drama production who is McKinley's gay lover.
Susie- Crazy Director of the drama production who has a bad temper.
Steve- a werid kid who talks in a robot voice and keeps a pet chicken. He has the power to control the wind.
Arty- the radio talk show host at the camp who has not taken a shower all summer