Wet Hot American Summer

Never before has a movie tried so hard to be deliberately awful--and been so successful. This nickel-budget sketch-comedy spoof of early '80s teen sex-at-camp romps is nothing but a loose jumble of obvious jabs at stock characters (dorky virgins, unattainable babes, jean-jacket studs, tube-top sluts) in grossly under-rehearsed vignettes that are absentmindedly filmed and randomly edited together. Pathetically self-satisfied with its own idiocy--as if the irony of making a bad movie on purpose automatically makes it shrewdly funny--the few flashes of clever humor are drowned out by bad acting, a structure-less script and frequently trite-on-top-of-trite lampoonery. Intentionally bad or not, the resulting picture is very nearly unwatchable. The cast of cancelled sketch show vets is joined by Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce and Paul Rudd, who gives the one truly funny performance. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—May 19, 2015—Universal, 97 min., R, $19.98—Making its debut on Blu-ray, 2001's Wet Hot American Summer features a good transfer and DTS-HD stereo and Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack options. Extras include a cast and crew audio commentary, a “Wet Hot American Summer: Live at SF Sketchfest” featurette with cast members re-enacting select scenes from the live radio play (45 min.), a “10th Anniversary Event Highlights” retrospective with the cast and filmmakers (32 min.), a behind-the-scenes featurette (16 min.), deleted scenes (12 min.), a “Songs with Production Stills” photo gallery (11 min.), cast comments (8 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: this unremarkable summer camp movie spoof looks sharp on Blu-ray.]