Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp

Started by Tictacbk, August 05, 2015, 01:26:38 AM

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Tictacbk

Couldn't remember if we already had a Wet Hot topic somewhere...

Anyway, this is the greatest thing to ever happen.

Jeremy Blackman

Should be mentioned, this is on Netflix. And from what I've seen so far, the actual show is a lot better than the trailer, so probably don't watch that.

I'll report back.

modage

I'm kinda in the other camp on this which sucks because I'm a huge fan of Wain, Showalter, Stella and the original film (which when it came out on DVD, I probably watched a dozen times in the span of a year or two, every time someone came over and hadn't seen it, I'd end up showing it to another person). I watched the series over the past couple nights and found it pleasant but not necessarily funny. I laughed out loud a couple times maybe but nothing that really stuck with me. On paper, I think they had some funny ideas that ended up being not that funny in execution.

Like Anchorman 2 and Arrested Development S4, it's also hard just to get past some of the aesthetic and surface details. Cinematography-wise, the show doesn't feel like the movie, at all. It's bright and shiny and mostly close-ups and medium shots (like TV). The film, now 14 years away, feels much closer to the actual era in which it was set. It looks like a film. Also structurally, it didn't really seem suited to episodes of TV, it just seemed like they put random act breaks into a 4 hour long movie.

And not a fault of the show but it really was distracting seeing Coop gained like 100 pounds and they're not even going to mention it (or make a joke out of it)? No matter how many episodes I watched, I couldn't get over it. Likewise distracting was Janeane Garofalo (who, like Portia de Rossi in AD) has just changed her face.

The 8 episodes were definitely watchable and didn't feel as forced as AD's reunion, and it felt like everyone's hearts were in the right place but when they showed up on set, the funny just wasn't there.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Jeremy Blackman

Oof. I barely got through the first episode. And I will definitely stop there. I feel like nothing happened and nothing was funny. Is it the writing? Was the atmosphere just not there?

Janeane Garofalo is on screen for several minutes but does nothing. Michael Ian Black is there but does nothing. Jon Benjamin is miscast and is not remotely funny in this role. Lake Bell has the only interesting performance.

Having not seen the movie (I should), I do not understand the appeal at all.

polkablues

Do not try to watch this show without having seen the movie. It is made in such a way that it very heavily relies on a pre-existing familiarity with the characters.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Jeremy Blackman

Just watched the first half of the movie. Modage is completely right about the way it's shot making a huge difference. In the movie it feels like you're in a world watching its story unfold. We take that for granted, but the TV show (at least the first episode) doesn't accomplish this basic narrative task. Instead it feels like you're watching a gallery of characters. Each character stands there in a medium shot and does something (or nothing, as the case may be), and then the camera moves onto the next.

Tictacbk

Haha, attempting to watch this without watching the movie is definitely not a good idea.  I'd estimate it's about 80% inside jokes, so to speak.  As someone who loves the movie, and used to throw it on like once a week back in college, I really enjoyed the series.  I didn't expect it to look like the film, so the aesthetic change didn't bother me.  It's the insane silliness that I was hoping would carry on from the movie, and it did.  There's also so many little things from the original Wet Hot that they've chosen to blow up into full-fledged characters or plots, which is hilarious to me.

If you don't like it, I totally get it. Wain/Showalter definitely aren't for everyone.  But if you love the movie and don't like the series, I'd say go back and watch the movie, then give it another shot. 

cronopio 2

it is odd that this show was financed and exists and a country like haiti has no real sewage system.

polkablues

I'm four episodes in so far, and while I'm familiar with the movie and enjoy it, I've never been quite as high on it as a lot of people. So far, I'm enjoying the show more on a per-laugh basis, but it definitely lacks the manic throw-everything-at-the-wall precociousness that makes the movie memorable. Everyone involved are old pros now, and that shows in the professionalism and consistency, but it also smooths too many of the rough edges. But I am enjoying it. I still laugh, so it must be doing something right.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Jeremy Blackman

I finished the movie, which was pretty good, and watched the second episode, which was a lot better than the first. It works better once you realize they're setting up conventional jokes only to subvert them, but that in itself becomes somewhat predictable. There is a little too much slapstick and potty humor. The more absurdist and Zucker-style stuff is what works best for me... I loved the frantic phone scene in the movie, and the Abby becoming a woman scene in the show, as examples. I might keep watching.