Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Theater Camp is a mocumentary about a summer theater camp, AdirondACTS, whose founder is hospitalized with a seizure at the start of the new season. To keep the camp open, her son, Troy (Jimmy Tatro), takes over. The problem is, Troy has never taken an interest in the camp or theater. He’s a professional business influencer who knows nothing about business and can’t connect with the campers.
After being approached by Barnswell Capital, which owns a neighboring camp, Troy discovers that the bank is going to foreclose on AdirondACTS. Instead of talking to the councilors and people who know the history of the camp, he secretly starts talks with Barnswell Capital.
As all of this is going on, camp councilors Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), are struggling to put together the summer lineup, teach the kids about theater, and keep their crumbling friendship together.
Some Thoughts:
Theater Camp is the type of comedy that will make you smile and chuckle instead of guffaw. The story is all over the place because of its lack of focus. It has a large cast of characters and tries to tell all of their stories. The film does have a good mix of LGBT and straight characters.
The main plot about Amos and Rebecca-Diane’s co-dependent friendship often gets lost in the sea of minor events. While Platt and Gordon play off each other well, they lack the chemistry necessary to pull it off. And because of that, it feels a bit dull.
Although AdirondACTS is being filmed for a documentary, the cast never responds to the people behind the camera. There are some personal moments when the characters might not want to be filmed, but they never turn away from the camera and try to get out of the shot. This makes the mocumentary part of the film feel like a gimmick. The story could have easily been told without it.
The subplot of the bank about to foreclose on the camp is reminiscent of old Judy Garland and Mickey Roony movies. And while the end result is the same as those old flicks, it lacks the pizzaz those films have. Some of the reason is because Troy keeps the impending doom of foreclosure to himself. And because of that, the plot meanders around Amos and Rebecca-Diane’s friendship and history with the camp.
Theater Camp would benefit from focusing solely on one part of the story instead of grazing past several aspects. As it is, there’s so much going on that the viewer doesn’t know what to care about.
The Final Verdict:
While Theater Camp is amusing and has some entertaining moments, as a whole it doesn’t quite fit the bill.
