‘Theater Camp’ Movie Review: An Affectionate, Gently Mocking Labor of Theater Love
Photo from Searchlight Pictures
From Jeremy Kibler
Theater kids will feel seen throughout Theater Camp, a scrappy, entertaining mockumentary influenced by the 2003 indie Camp (which co-starred a then-unknown Anna Kendrick slaying “The Ladies Who Lunch”). Written by Noah Galvin & Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman & Ben Platt and directed by Gordon and Lieberman, this is a true labor of love (based on a short Lieberman made in 2020) that takes a gently mocking but very affectionate approach to the theater community.
Gordon and Platt play codependent pals Rebecca-Diane and Amos, who take their craft in drama and music quite seriously. They’re dedicated teachers at AdirondACTS, a performing arts summer camp in upstate New York. Before the summer session even begins, the camp’s founder, Joan (Amy Sedaris), suffers a seizure from a strobe-light sequence during a performance of “Bye Bye Birdie” and falls into a coma. Stepping in for Joan is her idiot son Troy (an endearing Jimmy Tatro), a crypto bro/aspiring entrepreneur who hasn’t a clue what he’s doing. While Troy faces foreclosure on the camp and predatory advances by a representative (Patti Harrison) with the ritzier next-door Camp Lakeview, Rebecca-Diane and Amos only have four weeks to actually write, rehearse, and perform their original musical “Joan, Still” as a tribute to their beloved comatose leader. The drama!
As an ode to the arts, Theater Camp is joyous and often laugh-out-loud funny, from quotable lines of dialogue to the many title cards for the faux documentary. By opening their film with camcorder footage of them performing at young ages, this collective knows this specific world where kids can be themselves and be around like-minded people. Their film is crammed with so many delightfully strange characters and clever details, most of them rooted in a recognizable reality, that no one could ever question that these thespians have lived it and seen it all.
Gordon and Platt are pitch-perfect in their eccentricities and surround themselves with such a large ensemble that it’s a miracle so many of them make a mark. Co-writer Noah Galvin (Platt’s real-life partner) kills it, especially during the final musical, as the camp’s stressed technical director Glenn, and Ayo Edebiri is hilariously deadpan as newcomer Janet who fakes her way into being one of the camp’s instructors. Amy Sedaris might be out rather quickly, but Caroline Aaron (with her distinct voice) is a dependable presence as the camp’s manager Rita, as does Nathan Lee Graham’s dance instructor Clive.
The young cast is immensely talented, several of them making memorable bits out of absurdist character business (the boy who comes out as heterosexual, an ingenue who takes her characterization work quite seriously, another performer who cheats with “tear sticks,” and an aspiring agent, played by the adorable Alan Sun Kim from Minari).
Theater Camp is a little slight, feeling like it’s constantly on the verge of really breaking out but then losing some steam right before the finale. It’s worked up so much goodwill already with the ensemble’s improvisation, culminating with the ridiculous and ultimately sweet crowd-pleaser that ends up being “Joan, Still.” It should make every theater geek and Christopher Guest applaud and want to put on a show, posthaste, but you don’t really have to know your Sondheim from your Hammerstein to get a kick out of Theater Camp.
Theater Camp is currently in theaters.
Rating: 3.5/5
