X
- 2023
- PG-13
- Searchlight Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Searchlight Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
Summary Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) are lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in upstate New York. When clueless tech-bro Troy (Jimmy Tatro) arrives to run the property (into the ground), Amos, Rebecca-Diane and production manager Glenn (Noah Galvin) band together with the staff and students to stage...
Directed By: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
Written By: Noah Galvin, Ben Platt, Nick Lieberman, Molly Gordon
- 2023
- PG-13
- Searchlight Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Searchlight Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
Theater Camp
70
7.1
Where to Watch
Summary Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) are lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in upstate New York. When clueless tech-bro Troy (Jimmy Tatro) arrives to run the property (into the ground), Amos, Rebecca-Diane and production manager Glenn (Noah Galvin) band together with the staff and students to stage...
Directed By: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
Written By: Noah Galvin, Ben Platt, Nick Lieberman, Molly Gordon
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 41 Critic Reviews
70
80% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
17% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 41 Critic Reviews
70
80% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
17% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Theater Camp’s comedy springs entirely from personality: the jokes aren’t really quotable because they depend on you knowing who’s making them to work.
Many of the mile-per-minute quips and hilariously biting remarks in Theater Camp will surely enter the collective consciousness once the general public has access to them.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 35 User Ratings
7.1
69% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
26% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
6% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 35 User Ratings
7.1
69% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
26% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
6% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
I had zero expectations going into Theater Camp- this movie would legit just intended to round out my watchalong for the day, I didn't know a THING about it. But **** surprised me. This is the exact movie that hits me where I live as an aspiring film maker; such an authentic, sincere story that made me smile ear to ear. The characters made me live (especially Troy which I DID NOT expect going in), I was so engaged with their personalities and goals. The cinematography takes full advantage of the mockumentary film style. And damn, its funny! I had such a fantastic time. It isn't perfect, but its authentically itself, and I love it so much. I would watch "Joan, Still" on broadway opening night.
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Really enjoyed this. Lots of humour with great performances from the younger cast. Will get lost with all the big releases but definitely deserves to be seen.
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A mockumentary as sparky, big-hearted and entertaining as its cast of bright-eyed kids and the wannabe thesps who coach them in the ways of ‘turning cardboard into gold’. The affection for musical theatre is so sincere, it’ll win over even the most Sondheim-averse.
If you’re down for a light comedy with a very specific audience, pitched somewhere between Wet Hot American Summer and John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch, AdirondACTS welcomes you (and your prepared monologue—you did prepare a monologue, right?) with open arms.
Theater Camp may not qualify as a 24-carat enterprise, but when it occasionally shines, it glimmers with a love for the transformative magic of the stage.
Theater Camp is ultimately too uneven and unfocused to earn a curtain call, but like its marginally talented protagonists, it does its best with what it has.
This musical should have taken center stage in Theater Camp. The dreadful story surrounding it deserves to get the hook.
Funny throughout, heartfelt, awesome ending, one of my favorites of the year.
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Films in the mockumentary genre can be thoroughly satisfying entertainment experiences when done right, as seen in such examples as “Zelig” (1983), “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984) and “Fear of a Black Hat” (1993). But the key, as noted above, is in doing them right, something to which this latest such offering from writer-directors Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon can’t lay claim. The problem here is that the picture is too hit or miss on too many fronts: When it’s on, it’s brilliant and genuinely hilarious (especially in the film’s final act); however, when it’s not, it tries too hard to be funny and often ends up falling flat. That’s unfortunate, since the picture’s high points – as good as they are – simply aren’t enough to make up for the low ones. This faux look into life at an Adirondack theatrical-themed summer camp for youngsters and teens has a few too many diverse story threads that stray from the picture’s central premise. Then there are the characterizations, which are truly well developed but focus more on the camp’s adult staffers than on the characters that should matter most – the campers themselves. What’s more, the narrative relies heavily on the use of graphics to move the story along, but they frequently stay on the screen for unduly short durations, a practice that becomes progressively irritating over time. In all, this is a production that feels half-finished, one sorely in need of tidying up to make it work as well as it might have. Perhaps that’s due in part to the picture’s volume of material – 70 hours of footage – but that abundance of images likely wasn’t culled as effectively as it might have been. It feels as if the film aspires to be like one of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary projects (most notably “Waiting for Guffman” (1996)) but just doesn’t quite come up to the same level, despite a strong underlying basis that should have leant itself well to this format. To be sure, this is by no means an awful release; it makes for a modestly pleasant at-home streaming option for a midweek evening. It’s just regrettable that it doesn’t live up to what it could have been.
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“Theater Camp” is basically Ben Platt (Tony Award for “Dear Evan Hansen”) getting together with three close friends to create an improvised homage to musical theater. The friends in question are Writer/Director/Star Molly Gordon (“Booksmart,” TV’s “The Bear”) who met Platt in a theater program at age 3; Writer/Director Nick Lieberman, who performed in musicals with Platt in high school; and Writer/Star Noah Galvin (TV’s “The Good Doctor”), Platt’s successor on “Dear Evan Hansen” and now his fiancé. Before completing this full-length film, the quartet wrote a scriptment (somewhere between a general story treatment and an actual script) and did a proof-of-concept short **** story is rickety. The pacing of this film is uneven. Some sections are unforgivably slow. But if you hang in, you’ll likely appreciate the show’s kindness and heart. Amos (Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Gordon) are unsuccessful actors who are transformed into stars each year when they arrive to teach young students at a summer theater camp called AdirondACTS. Unfortunately, Joan (Amy Sedaris), the owner of the camp, was sent into a coma by the strobe lights at a student production of “Bye Bye Birdie.” Keeping the camp solvent and out of the hands of the neighboring camp run by a hedge fund falls to Joan’s son, Troy, a bro-dude who constantly introduces himself as an en-Troy-preneur. After the young campers audition for the various musicals being produced this summer – including “The Crucible Jr.” and the original musical written by Amos and Rebecca-Diane in honor of the camp founder, “Joan, Still” – the storyline heads toward the most moth-eaten cliché possible: will the public performance of “Joan, Still” attract new investors and save the camp? Clearly, there’s a lot of Christopher Guest’s “Waiting for Guffman” wandering around here.What’s fascinating about this piece is its consistent reliance on the improvisational skills of kids. But they really deliver. There are the “Fosse kids” who spend their spare time snapping their fingers. There’s the ten-year-old who decides her audition number will be “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Mis,” which allows Amos to remark, “That’s a good song choice. I totally believe her as a French prostitute.” Clearly, it helps if moviegoers are musical theater fans themselves, but it’s not required to appreciate watching kids live out their dreams.This film is a mockumentary filmed in a gritty cinéma vérité style that perfectly fits the content. While there may be some mockery of musical theater tropes, there’s no condescension directed at the kids in this production. These kids are charmingly self-absorbed. They are zealously over the top. But they also realize they are misfits who have once chance each year to be with their kindred spirits. Their boundless enthusiasm is ****’s the guileless kindness of this enterprise that will ultimately win you over. You probably won’t leave the theater humming any show tunes, but you may leave with a smile on your face and a sense of validation if you’ve ever felt awkward, left out or marginalized. In other words, it’s actually a film for everybody.
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Theater Camp's humor is genuine, and I think it proves to be its best weapon in separating itself from what could have become a very simple mockumentary. It may give the impression that you have to be a theater lover to get into the spirit of its plot, but I think even casual viewers will be able to relate to its approach.
Not everything functions seamlessly, and at certain points, I experienced a slight sense of disconnection. However, the humor operates at an optimal level, effectively getting the laughs it's looking for.
It may not leave a brutal impression on you and you may not enjoy its melodies either, but i believe you won't be bored.
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bad [ bad ] adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36. not good in any manner or degree.
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Production Company
Gloria Sanchez Productions,
Picturestart,
Searchlight Pictures,
Topic Studios
Release Date Jul 14, 2023
Duration 1 h 32 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Awards
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 3 Nominations
ReFrame
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
