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Wet Hot American Summer

It's the last day of summer for Camp Firewood's staff and patrons, and everyone wants a final shot at some action. For Beth (Janeane Garofalo), that means getting it on with nerdy astrophysicist Henry (David Hyde Pierce). Ditto for the lovelorn Coop (Michael Showalter), who'd like nothing better than to lip-lock with fellow counselor Katie (Marguerite Moreau). Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon and Elizabeth Banks co-star in this spoof on summer-camp camp.
HD Available
Netflix Rating: 3.6
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten 30%
As comedy, Wet Hot American Summer is a slapdash, fragmented affair that misses more often than hits. As parody, it fails because it attempts to satirize something ridiculous and self-parodying in itself.
Fresh: 19   Rotten: 44   Rotten Tomatoes page
Top Rotten Tomatoes Critics

Often it's funny, and often it isn't.

Michael Atkinson, Mr. Showbiz

Have a good summer. full review

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

For all its failings, Wet Hot maintains energy and high spirits over most of its length. The trouble is, such energy and spirits are not infectious, and the movies it mocks were better. full review

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle

This is supposed to be funny? It was so depressing I almost started to cry.

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

This is an almost laughless bomb. full review

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News

A sloppy, unhinged hellzapoppin that occasionally hits its targets but more often seems out of control and desperate to please. full review

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle

David Wain and Michael Showalter simply set up a bunch of stock characters in stock situations, and then repeatedly explode the cliches. full review

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

There's no getting around the fact that it's a hit-and-miss proposition.

Jay Carr, Boston Globe

I want to escape, / Oh, Muddah Faddah-- / Life's too short for cinematic torture. full review

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Simply seems like a dim-witted addition to an already undistinguished canon.

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

This low-budget comedy will most likely try the patience of a paying audience with its uneven pacing, wavering tone and poor production quality. full review

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune

A spoof that manages to be even stupider than the pictures it's spoofing. full review

Charles Taylor, Salon.com

The laughs are scattershot.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The writing here is rarely funny, and often trite and predictable. full review

Claudia Puig, USA Today

This sloppy comedy may be a pleasant reminder of days gone by. full review

A.O. Scott, New York Times

What the world doesn't need now is an homage to Bill Murray's 1979 summer-camp hit Meatballs.

Lou Lumenick, New York Post

This movie strains so hard to be funny, it almost ruptures itself.

Desson Thomson, Washington Post
full review by Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Similars Available on Instant
  • Release Year: 2001
  • MPAA Rating: R
  • Runtime: 97 min
  • Available From: May 01, 2011
  • Available Until: Dec 31, 2099
  • Remaining: 31635 days left
  • Queued by: 1942 people
Directed By
David Wain
Cast
David Hyde Pierce, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Paul Rudd, Zak Orth, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Michael Ian Black, Amy Poehler, Kevin Sussman, Bradley Cooper
Genres