Theater Camp
After the indomitable and beloved founder of a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York falls into a coma, the eccentric staff must band together with her clueless "crypto-bro" son to keep the thespian paradise afloat.
- Released: 2023-07-14
- Runtime: 93 minutes
- Genre: Comedy
- Stars: Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Amy Sedaris, Patti Harrison, Jimmy Tatro, Caroline Aaron, Luke Islam, Nathan Lee Graham, Kyndra Sanchez, Dean Scott Vazquez, Alan Kim, Jonathan Lengel, Donovan Colan, Owen Thiele, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Alexander Bello, Quinn Titcomb, Bailee Bonick, Madisen Lora, Vivienne Sachs
- Director: Nick Lieberman, Molly Gordon
Comments
- Pjtaylor-96-138044 - 4 February 2024
It's theatre, it's camp, it's theatre camp!
'Theater Camp (2023)' takes quite a long time to settle into itself. Frankly, most of the first movement isn't all that good. Eventually, it finds its footing and features a number of amusing scenes, as well as a surprisingly satisfying finale. Strangely for a passion project created by people who appear to genuinely love musical theatre, the tone seems quite mocking on more than one occasion. Ultimately, though, there's a clear adoration on display for all things theatre and all things camp. Although it's never quite as good as it perhaps could have been, it's still a pretty good time once it gets going. It's also just quite pleasant, and it's nice to see a summer camp movie that doesn't feature a masked murderer chopping anyone up. I definitely wish Ayo Edebiri had more screen time, though. - chand-suhas - 19 November 2023
Camp isn't home. It's a place called Joan.
Joan Rubinsky is the co-founder of a theater camp and during one of the show, she has a seizure which puts her in a coma. Her son Troy takes over the camp and finds it hard to belong there as bonding with the staff as well as the kids turns out to be a real challenge. They prepare to perform a new musical based on the life of Joan while Troy struggles to raise enough money to save the place. The sub-plot also involves the two teachers Amos and Rebecca, who are behind the musical and their career differences take a toll on their relationship. Despite all the odds, how the kids end up performing the show and will Troy be able to save the place forms rest of the story.
Initially I did find it hard to get on board with the narrative with it entirely being the off screen life of these kids as well as the camp runners, basically life of theater artists and their antics. But I got used to it on time enough to buy into the narrative. Sure, the writing felt superficial as the financial concern and how it was dealt it was downplayed along with the subplots involving the staffers, where their issues were resolved too easily. But the entire third act and the musical play itself worked it's charm. Overall, it was definitely a decent watch.
