Camp
IFC Films | Release Date: July 25, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
A summery confection crammed with fresh young talented faces that's hard not to love. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
A comedy, and for all its cliches and clumsiness, close to a great one. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
At the film's uplifting conclusion, when a stilled voice finally makes itself heard, you can unmistakably feel your heart lift, as if it had grown tiny wings. Camp reminds you that once you believed it would always soar, just like that. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
A hilarious, rousing musical comedy set at a summer camp where NOBODY plays sports and EVERYBODY worships Stephen Sondheim. Read full review
80
Film ThreatRich Cline
This is the kind of film you can watch over and over again on several levels, especially as you mine the script for knowing jokes about the theatre (it's packed with them). Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The modestly perfect antidote to a synthetic, overblown movie summer: a blast of exuberant fun that stays rooted in humanity. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It's impossible not to be exhilarated by the energy and determination that infuses every frame. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A crude but irresistibly effervescent movie cut from the same sequined cloth as "Fame," Camp couldn't be better timed to ride the coattails of "Chicago" to cult popularity. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
"Meatballs" handled the sleep-away sex stuff better; here it feels like filler between the killer musical numbers that make even special guest Stephen Sondheim smile on his way out the door. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Spiked with some genuine show-stopping musical numbers, and the sheer pluck of its young cast is nothing if not admirable. Read full review
70
VarietyDavid Rooney
A big-hearted, exuberant, compassionate film with a wicked sense of humor and terrific songs performed by some preternaturally talented kids. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Camp offers plenty of reasons to bristle at its cheery shamelessness, but it's too high-spirited and charming to resist. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The sum is no greater than the ''Fame''-style saga of any one of them, and Graff, an actor and screenwriter making his directing debut, is less successful at developing each story than at conveying his general affection for the curtain-call species. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
The situations are mighty broad, but exuberance counts for something in the movie with perhaps the year's most double-edged title. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
There's humor and expected back-story pathos. Read full review
63
PremiereKelly Borgeson
Camp may not be great cinema, but it's passionate and original enough to be special. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The film's title is a double entendre, meant to be taken straight as a noun (as in summer camp) and bent as a verb (as in "to camp," an action self-consciously exaggerated or theatrical). Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The pressure often shows: For all its charm, the dramatic moments are awkward and the final act feels rushed and under rehearsed. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
If you can get into the spirit of the proceedings, you're likely to find some fun. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
The film's examination of confused sexuality, psychic scars and unsupportive parents never moves a step beyond cliche.
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A fresh, young energetic cast is this wobbly musical comedy's main claim to "Fame." Read full review
50
Village VoiceEd Park
Camp is self-conscious when the teens aren't singing, but the quote marks fall away as soon as they lift their voices. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Has a good deal of the appeal, and the drawbacks, of a high school play. It can be pokey and overly earnest and its dramatics are not always polished, but, on the other hand, would you want them to be? Read full review
50
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
So strained in its "charm" and "pluck" that you grow weary by minute 15, hoping that the teens whose lives it depicts will stop being so darn peppy or sweetly confused or irritatingly dramatic. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Occasional clumsiness is easily coated over by the movie's overarching goodwill. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleC.W. Nevius
Another of those summer movies that want to pluck at our heartstrings. If it would just stop plucking for a second, it might be enjoyable. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Does have heart and enthusiasm. But it might have worked better if it had been glitzed up and energized the way "Fame" was. It's not a script that can survive this kind of minimal, earnest, self-congratulatory treatment. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Art as a passport to healing may be what audiences are craving these days, but the poultice provided by this movie couldn't cover a paper cut. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Starts slowly, takes a turn for the better for a couple of reels and then, not having much to say or anywhere to go, flatlines into something akin to "American Idol." Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
There's no doubt the cast is driven and talented; some day, it might be interesting to watch a film about what such kids are really like. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
The movie is so rigged to elicit the audience's empathy that it becomes difficult to watch; it's stifling. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Camp has also been compared to Alan Parker’s "Fame," which operates with a similar love of behind-the-scenes melodrama and youthful idealism, but different in that it doesn’t induce brain-swelling revulsion in the viewer. Read full review
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