Camp

Although you might expect a movie called Camp about Broadway-obsessed adolescents attending a summer musical theatre camp to be a zany satire along the lines of Waiting for Guffman, writer-director Todd Graff's (an actor who once attended such a place) film instead offers the earnestness of a television afterschool special, as desperate to please as the eager young performers whose trials and tribulations it records. The central character is Vlad (Daniel Letterle), a handsome, ostensibly well-adjusted straight kid who not only wants to compose and sing his own songs (and attracts the attention of virtually all of his fellow students, male and female), but also helps restore the creative energy of the bitter, cynical one-hit composer who runs the camp before the big show that closes the term. The whole thing amounts to a schmaltzy, manipulative junior-league soap opera punctuated by energetic musical interludes, but at least the young performers are personable and the treatment is affectionate. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include a 24-minute “making of” documentary, five deleted/extended scenes (12 min.), a four-minute live cast performance of “How Shall I See You Through My Tears” at the closing night of the LA Film Festival 2003, a soundtrack spot, and trailers. Bottom line: a nice extras package for an occasionally winning little film.] (F. Swietek)