• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp |OT| I want you inside me on July 31st

Status
Not open for further replies.
Z

Zatoth

Member
Kinsella said:
I love stupid shit. I love smart, funny. I love stupid, funny. But something about the movie felt half-assed and virtually none of it appealed to me whereas most of The State did. I hope the show clicks with me, because I love so many of the people involved.
Click to expand...

I didn't enjoy the movie too much the first time I watched it. But gave it another try and started to love it.
 
I

inki

Member
Kinsella said:
I love stupid shit. I love smart, funny. I love stupid, funny. But something about the movie felt half-assed and virtually none of it appealed to me whereas most of The State did. I hope the show clicks with me, because I love so many of the people involved.
Click to expand...

I honestly cannot explain it. You either like it or you don't. Not sure if there is any switching camps.. I hope there is, I find it one of the best pieces of film created in years.
 
T

thenexus6

Member
Never heard of this or the movie. I just watched the trailers for both. Think i'll watch the movie tonight then the show over the weekend.
 
B

border

Member
Episode 3:

What? Abby is a camper, not a counselor? I'm not sure if that makes her character more gross or less gross. In the movie she was all over Victor, as well as some of the younger kids. I suppose it makes sense.
 
B

border

Member
Episode 4:

Holy crap, the Cure-loving punk in the convenience store with the Falcon was the same actress that played the Cure-loving camper in the original film! How many other campers from the original have cameos, I wonder?

Also, I thought the heavy emphasis on the play auditions kinda brought this episode down.
 
B

Bladenic

Member
Yeah I watched the movie and was meh on it. Episode 2 of the show and I've laughed more than during the movie. Some of the actors have aged very well too. Shame poor Coop got fat (unless this is part of the show and he's skinny by the end).
 
F

FrenchMovieTheme

Member
Bladenic said:
Yeah I watched the movie and was meh on it. Episode 2 of the show and I've laughed more than during the movie. Some of the actors have aged very well too. Shame poor Coop got fat (unless this is part of the show and he's skinny by the end).
Click to expand...

This makes me nervous about the show. If you didn't find the movie good, but like the show...
 
W

wanderingprostheyltite

Member
FrenchMovieTheme said:
This makes me nervous about the show. If you didn't find the movie good, but like the show...
Click to expand...

I haven't got through all of it yet but imo it doesn't hit the same highs the movie did, and honestly if you look at Wain and Showalter's work post Wet Hot (outside of Stella and Michael and Michael Have Issues) it was sort of a flash in the pan deal. I'm enjoying the episodes but the jokes and gags aren't nearly as satisfying, and somehow the pacing/editing just seems off and performances come off as somewhat awkward, jokes not landing due to it and what not. The main beef I have is the cast is too crowded, too many new faces eating up screen time. Some of the additions are great like Slattery but a lot of the others feel forced and don't really flow with the personality of the movie, looking at Hamm and Chris Pine in particular.

Also, Gene spoilers...
Even post transformation Meloni's delivery and tone just isn't the same, pretty subdued compared to the intensity in the film
 
S

Salsa

Member
fuck I love this

everyone's playing to their strenghts basically

like im laughing my ass off at Paul Scheer being super cringy and campy just sayin everything out loud
 
A

Ampersands

Member
I don't like this show. To be fair, I didn't like the movie either so I don't know why I was expecting an improvement.

It's a shame because I like all of the talent involved and know that they can be funny but it just doesn't show. The show is trying to balance its absurdity by playing it straight but it results in unfunny gags dragged out for way too long.
 
K

Kinsella

Banned
Pleasantly surprised that after two episodes I'm loving this. It works much better in this format than it did as a movie. I may need to revisit the movie after watching all eight episodes.
 
S

Salsa

Member
shadyspace said:
Michael Showalter looks so much worse than everyone else that it's distracting.
Click to expand...

KbQh2aR.png
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Watched it all today. Pretty solid, if not great, all around. Very happy they made it. Would love for them to do another series in 15 years chronicling the midway point of summer camp. See everyone in the 50s, or more in some cases, pretending to be 16/17 still.

SalsaShark said:
KbQh2aR.png
Click to expand...

Yeah that's a bit rough, but he is easily the most changed of the cast. Dude use to be skinny all throughout his career. So it was quite surprising seeing the first promo for this and how he looks now. I don't think he purposefully gained weight as a gag, but that's definitely something that was played upon throughout the series since it's been so long since the film when they were already all well beyond 16.
 
B

Bernbaum

Member
Had no idea about Wet Hot American Summer until it showed up on my Netflix.

I'm gonna spend the weekend watching the original and then watching the series.

I like a lot of the talent in the cast - will I have a good weekend?
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
Bernbaum said:
Had no idea about Wet Hot American Summer until it showed up on my Netflix.

I'm gonna spend the weekend watching the original and then watching the series.

I like a lot of the talent in the cast - will I have a good weekend?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah.

A lot of humor in First Day of Camp will fall flat if you are not already in tune with the original movie. It's just got its own unique style that will seem forced if you don't already know the tone they've established (because honestly, almost all of the filler in the series is based on nostalgia jokes).

First Day's main flaw is that it was never meant to be a four hour series, but an hour and a half movie.

But both the series and the movie are fantastic if you are into random and cringe humor. There are moments in the film that are genuine and true, and more-so in the series, but at the end of the day, it's all about parody.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Watching the first episode right now. The coverage on Poehler / Cooper's scene is amazing, Cooper very clearly was not there when they filmed most of the shots. Very clever. Try to find a shot that has both Bradley Cooper and any of the kids or audience, you won't. There was also only one shot that had Amy Poehler and the audience. Super smart shooting.
 
D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
I thought it was quite a lot of fun. Meloni really gets a lot of material to shine with.

I'm not sure what the deal is with the supposed secret guest that David Wain wanted kept secret. The only people I wasn't previously aware of were
Bruce Greenwood, Zandy Hartig and Beth Dover
. The first name is the only somewhat surprising one, since he's not part of this comedy crowd.
 
S

Salsa

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Watching the first episode right now. The coverage on Poehler / Cooper's scene is amazing, Cooper very clearly was not there when they filmed most of the shots. Very clever. Try to find a shot that has both Bradley Cooper and any of the kids or audience, you won't. There was also only one shot that had Amy Poehler and the audience. Super smart shooting.
Click to expand...

he was only able to do it cause he was in LA for the Oscars

they originally wrote him out
 
W

wanderingprostheyltite

Member
Just finished it. I dunno kinda bummed with it overall, maybe I wasn't in the right head space for the format change. Will probably revisit it in a bit and see how I feel about it then. Did that with Season 4 of AD and ended up loving it.
 
Wag

Wag

Member
Worth watching in 4k? If so I'll subscribe to the 4k service (I cancelled it- I didn't find it worth it). If not I'll stick with 1080p.
 
M

MoveableObject

Neo Member
Just finished it all. Great stuff. Finale spoilers:

The musical denouement was everything I was hoping for once Chris Pine showed up.
"He saved friendship with his song."
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
My god. It is beautiful. It started off being merely good, but then it just kept escalating. I don't want more. I NEED more.

They should wait another ten years and then film the reunion from after camp.

While there were many great things about the series, truly the most glorious thing was that now we have an origin story for
Higher and Higher.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later |OT| On Netflix Aug. 4, but waaay after 9:30
2 3 4
190
23K
TaroYamada replied
  • Locked
‘Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later’ Sequel Series Ordered By Netflix
2
53
6K
robochimp replied
  • Locked
Wet Hot American Summer - 8-episode Netflix series begins filming
2 3 4 5
226
25K
HP_Wuvcraft replied
  • Locked
Variety: Netflix in talks to develop Wet Hot American Summer series
37
5K
xenist replied
Top Bottom