Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

I had no expectations prior to watching this hilarious show. It borrows campy humor elements from Hot Shots, Police Academy, Scary Movie series, etc...I loved the original WHAS movie, this is great!!

Yes it's a stupid show, that's the point. Don't take it serious. It's fun it's not meant to be a serious show. They literally go out of their way to make it that way. So much star power, they are having fun and so should you.

We tried watching the movie (which I'd never heard of until about a week ago), and just didn't get it. But we decided to try the show anyway since 40-somethings in wigs playing teens seemed like an amusing idea. And it was! For me, that joke never got old. Besides that, there were some great parody story lines, playing on old TV and movie tropes, that I found very funny.

-Standout Actors-

The show is worth watching for Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks alone. They both went hilariously over the top, plus their story lines were among the funniest. Kristen Wiig, Josh Charles, Chris Pine, and Michael Cera were standouts in smaller roles, for the same reason.

-This show is polarizing -- for a reason-

Some people won't get the humour here, perhaps because they just don't appreciate irony and absurdism. But maybe there's another reason… I think some people haven't been exposed to all the cheesy after school specials and movies of the week that this show is parodying. TV has become pretty sophisticated in the past decade or so; it's not quite as innocent (and in some cases, silly) as it used to be. And if you're not familiar with what's being parodied, it's hard to get the joke.

I have not seen the film this series is based on. But the series is just wonderful, charming, bizarre and a great deal of fun. Its like a parody on 80s teen movies but it ends up something much more. This alternative universe is a warm place to spend a couple of hours in. Paul Rudd is excellent as one of the lead character, he is overacting but so does everyone else in the cast, and it works. In some strange way it doesn't feel like a parody but more like a reality somewhere else. Like a movie started to become real and the characters live on far after the movie ended.

The cast is excellent and its just big names everywhere like Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Jason Schwartzman, Elisabeth Banks, Chris Pine and it goes on and on. And its great fun seeing this big names and some in minor parts building up this summer camp universe.

For everyone that likes bizarre, sometimes childish but still funny movies.

In 2001, 'Wet Hot American Summer' introduces a group of relatively unknown young comedic actors. Some of them played teenage camp counselors despite being too old. Fifteen years later, most return to play the same characters in a prequel during their first day at Camp Firewood in the summer of 1981. The time bending silliness of that construction is boldly inventive and utterly hilarious. On top of that, this eight-episode Netflix series doubles down and goes even more ridiculous. The plot is insane. The jokes are even broader. The original confused me on my first viewing. Its satirical take isn't consistent enough and the varying range of comedy left me a little discombobulated. The original is inconsistently awkward funny but this time around, the gang is going completely nuts. They are not holding back and it is glorious.