#41: THEATRE CAMP

 

Starring and written by Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman and Ben Platt and directed by Molly and Nick. Also starring Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, Nathan Lee Graham, Ayo Edebiri, Owen Thiele, Caroline Aaron, and Amy Sedaris. Running time 93 minutes. 

In a tale as old as time, but told through the modern over-used trope of a 'fly on the wall documentary', the film follows the adventures of the AdirondACTS Summer theatre camp. 

Set in upstate New York, the AdirondActs camp follows the lives of the various child performers, actors, dancers and wannabe agents over the course of a three week summer course. And then there's the staff of mostly failed but deeply eccentric actors, writers, dancers and performers, lead by the double act of failed actors Amos Klobuchar (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon). The camp is run by Joan a passionate and determined owner/Principle who somehow manages to make the camp run, that is until this year when during a fund raising effort she slips into a strobe-light induced coma forcing her useless and thick as shit, but kind-hearted son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) to take over. But when the banks threaten to foreclose on the camp, Troy tries desperate means to raise the money, while an oblivious Amos and Rebecca mount a musical called Joan, Still – a celebration of their comatose principle's life, put on by the kids and shown to brilliant effect in the film's final act.  

The film presented as a film on the wall documentary starts very well and promises to be very funny but sadly the promise is sadly squandered and the film's main failing can be seen in the poster, where the adults shine big and brightly and the kids (the true stars) are seen small and tiny in the bottom left of the poster. Written and directed by the cast of simply 'fabulous' actors and performers who all think they're funny and in a word simply fabulous. They aren't terrible but every time they're on screen and doing their thang, you're waiting for the kids to come back.    

Choosing to focus on the adults rather than the kids is a major miss-fire, the kids bring pure heart and delight while the adults mug their way through their generic adventures 

Told across three weeks and with the use of captions, you yearn to see more of the kids struggling with their crazy classes or rehearsing the stage plays and shows that we're promised at the beginning, but the film becomes bogged down in Amos and Rebecca's deteriorating relationship. Naturally the film sticks closely to the classic three act structure and after the forced addition of a subplot involving a rival camp and a foreclosing bank, we finally get to see the show the kids have been rehearsing all summer on Parent's Night and it's fantastic! Revealing as it does the true star of the camp, who's been hiding in plain sight for the whole time and who steps up to save the day delivering a star-making turn. The show, Joan, Still manages to be funny, touching and the absolute star of the and reminded me of the brilliant shows put on by Max Fischer in Rushmore. 

And it has to be said that the various kid performers are fantastic and incredibly talented, there's a great gag about one of the boy performers coming out to his gay dads which is one of the high-lights of the movie. And there's a real sense that there's a lot that ended up on the cutting room floor. 

It's just a shame that the film didn't focus more on them and stick more closely to the concept of the documentary film approach because if it had then I think this would have been an easy 10/10 but sadly the film feels too disjointed and somewhat misguided and feels more like a showreel by the adult actors to Hollywood than a properly formed comedy. 

That said, it's still a fun and delightful movie, but only when the kids are allowed to shine.

7/10