• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Jul 29, 2015 By Cody Ray Shafer Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

Big time content producers like Netflix are currently in the business of reviving cult classics—in the loosest sense of the word, as the foreboding Fuller House looms on the horizon—but even die-hard fans of David Wain’s 2001 movie comedy Wet Hot American Summer were probably as confused as the masses by the announcement of a prequel series. This is far past the question of whether the cast can recreate the magic from the cult hit, but more, should they even try?

Minutes into episode one, and the answer is an eye-wateringly hilarious yes. It’s as if the cast and crew from the original film merely stepped into a machine that aged them 14 years—except for Paul Rudd, who remains ageless—and then returned to work the following day. First Day of Camp reunites the majority of the original cast, made up largely of members of the sketch troupe The State, and a few others who have gone onto bigger things. David Wain and Michael Showalter’s quirky brand of comedy is still the heart of the series, and works because it is so youthfully rudimentary, playing up romantic comedy tropes with bratty sneers and whimsy. First Day at Camp is essential summer TV viewing nobody asked for, but nobody’s complaining either. (www.netflix.com)

Author rating: 9/10