Ben Platt

Molly Gordon

Noah Galvin

Jimmy Tatro

Caroline Aaron

Ayo Edebiri

Nathan Lee Graham

Owen Thiele

Amy Sedaris

Patti Harrison

Bailee Bonick

Kyndra Sanchez

Donovan Colan

Vivienne Sachs

Alan Kim

Alexander Bello

Luke Islam

Jack Sobolewski

Dean Scott Vazquez

Quinn Titcomb

Madisen Lora

Max Sheldon

Tyrone Mitchell Henderson

Priscilla Lopez

David Rasche

Nicklas Shalin

Emiko Diro

Giada Leigh

Zyla Harris-Petter

Ceci Collura

Jonathan Lengel

Olivia Puckett

Anthony Morabito

Gavin Coleman

Andrew Fetherolf

Jonathan Iturriaga-DaSilva

Krystle Grandy

Christopher Scotto

Mitch Ely

Nate Hurtsellers

Jake Sicilli

Kristian Charbonier

Grace Fong

Nick Lieberman

Mark Rosa

Jeff Valeri

Will Ferrell

Mary Bundy

Maria Zuckerman

Erik Feig

Alex Brown

Jennifer Semler

Jessica Elbaum

Ryan Heller

Shayne Fiske

Jon Philpot

Rachael White

Michelle J. Li

James McAlister

Andrew Sotomayor

Jordan Janota

Mark Sean Haynes

Jonathan Fuhrer

Michael Infante

Alex Noble

Lauren Chen

Max Schwarz

Crystal Soveroski

Lorena Montesdeoca

Aina Lee

Dirt Haehnel

Kimberly Sauer

Kira Ablak

Tomi Hutton

Steve Gutierrez

Heath Jacob Baldwin

Mike Albergo

Greg Meola

Christopher Orrico

Talia Cohen

Mariah Rachel Burke

Tayler Winer

Andre Marigny

Katharina Schwab

Cassi Bielmeier

Charlotte Royer

Angelique A. Pesce

Cédric Chabloz

Katrina Castillou

Michael Bloom

Mary Elizabeth DelVecchio

Sharon Dixon

Samie Kim Falvey

Mark Sonnenblick

Falon Jaloi Edouard

Liv Swenson

April Goldberg

Sebastian Iervolino

Bernard Telsey

Evan Benjamin

Dann Fink

Joshua First

Derek Bosworth

Julia Hammer

Dean Neistat

Emmett Kerr-Perkinson

Will Van Dyke

Bill Sherman

Lindsay Wolfington

Maud Arnold

Comedy

Theater Camp

Gloria Sanchez Productions

Topic Studios

Picturestart

United States of America

English

friendship

coma

summer camp

camp

improvisation

new york state

woman director

based on short

theatre

theater

lighthearted

casual

ensemble

absurd

hilarious

whimsical

CinemaSerf

When "Joan" (Amy Sedaris) unfortunately has a seizure caused by the strobe lighting (or perhaps the singing) at an am-dram performance of "Bye Bye Birdie", her profiteering and none-too-bright son "Troy" (the Channing tatum-esque Jimmy Tatro) finds himself in charge of her summer camp for would be, young, theatricals. This school is largely held together by "Amos" (Ben Platt), "Rebecca-Diane" (Molly Gordon) and the technical factotum "Glenn" (Noah Galvin). Next door there is a much more exclusive operation and they have their eyes on the valuable land, so when foreclosure looms they all must rally round to raise some cash and save the place from demolition. Can they? Do we actually want them to? I don't come from a nation where there is much of a summer "camp" culture, and so much of this just came across as an overly contrived concept with all of the precociousness of "Glee" but none of the character of "Fame". The kids are largely just annoying, as is the dithering storyline between the two adult principals. There is one decent song but you have to wait a while for that, otherwise the POV documentary style of photography offers an intimacy into the lives of some professional no-hopers charged with instilling some semblance of hope into these youngsters that just didn't engage me. I was on my own in the cinema when I watched this - it's better than that, but only just.

Brent Marchant

Films in the mockumentary genre can be thoroughly satisfying entertainment experiences when done right, as seen in such examples as “Zelig” (1983), “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984) and “Fear of a Black Hat” (1993). But the key, as noted above, is in doing them right, something to which this latest such offering from writer-directors Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon can’t lay claim. The problem here is that the picture is too hit or miss on too many fronts: When it’s on, it’s brilliant and genuinely hilarious (especially in the film’s final act); however, when it’s not, it tries too hard to be funny and often ends up falling flat. That’s unfortunate, since the picture’s high points – as good as they are – simply aren’t enough to make up for the low ones. This faux look into life at an Adirondack theatrical-themed summer camp for youngsters and teens has a few too many diverse story threads that stray from the picture’s central premise. Then there are the characterizations, which are truly well developed but focus more on the camp’s adult staffers than on the characters that should matter most – the campers themselves. What’s more, the narrative relies heavily on the use of graphics to move the story along, but they frequently stay on the screen for unduly short durations, a practice that becomes progressively irritating over time. In all, this is a production that feels half-finished, one sorely in need of tidying up to make it work as well as it might have. Perhaps that’s due in part to the picture’s volume of material – 70 hours of footage – but that abundance of images likely wasn’t culled as effectively as it might have been. It feels as if the film aspires to be like one of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary projects (most notably “Waiting for Guffman” (1996)) but just doesn’t quite come up to the same level, despite a strong underlying basis that should have leant itself well to this format. To be sure, this is by no means an awful release; it makes for a modestly pleasant at-home streaming option for a midweek evening. It’s just regrettable that it doesn’t live up to what it could have been.

Theater Camp( 2023)

You only fit in by acting out.

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Wed Aug 30 2023

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