"Wet Hot American Summer": The Prequel

Wet Hot American Summer (2001) was the endlessly panned parody of summer-camp-sex movies.  It was set during the last day of camp in the summer of 1981, when  ludicrously over-aged actors played out bizarre, impossibly contrived plotlines that could never fit into a single day.  But it somehow became a cult classic, inspiring Netflix to ok two tv series.

Wet Hot American Summer: The First Day of Camp (2015) is, obviously, set on the first day of camp in the summer of 1981 -- eight episodes covering about twelve hours but plotlines that should really have taken months.

Case in point:  During a staff meeting, magazine reporter Lindsay (Elizabeth Banks) offers to do a story about summer camps.  Getting the green light, she drives from New York to Maine, goes undercover as a camp counselor, digs up dirt on a shady government cover-up of toxic waste, and falls in love with a reclusive rock musician (um...the drive itself takes at least six hours).

To make things even more bizarre, most of the actors reprise their roles, so instead of 30-year olds playing teenagers, we have 50-year olds playing teenagers.  And they look it.

And of course we already know where the characters are at the end of camp, so there aren't many surprises as their roles fall into place.  Except we find out that the can of vegetables that unstable camp cook Gene interacts with is not a hallucination.  It would take too long to explain. 

To add conflict, there's a rich snob camp across the lake (also occupied by fifty-year old teenagers), some hetero-romantic angst among the juvenile campers, some lawsuits, a horndog Broadway director, President Reagan, and an Israeli tennis counselor interested in three-ways.  But at least we see Ben (Bradley Cooper) and McKinley (Michael Ian Black) falling in love (Ben's girlfriend responds to his coming out with a surprisingly anachronistic "No big deal.  Everybody is a little gay.").

I've already uploaded photos of the least ugly of the original cast members, so I'll stick to the least ugly of the new kids on the block.

1. Jason Schwartzman (top photo) as Gary, the head boys' counselor.

2. Josh Charles (second photo) as Blake, head snob at the rich-kid camp across the lake.

3. Rich Sommer (left) as Graham, his sidekick.









4. John Hamm as hired assassin The Falcon.



















5. Randall Park as a city employee who is in love with one of the teenagers.

6. Michael Cera as a shady lawyer.

7. Jordan Peele as the reporter's boss back in New York, who wants the story instantly.








8. Ron Huebel Brodfard Gilroy.  I don't knowwho that is.

9. David Wain in a ridiculous wig as Yaron, the tennis counselor-three way enthusiast.

10. Well, it's really not the most photogenic bunch.


See also: Wet Hot American Summe