Fort York
tuesday, june 25, 2024

Wet Hot American Summer

With the short film Spooning

When it comes to summer jobs on film, camp counsellor is one of the most memorable, often depicted in the form of gross-out teen sex comedy. At first blush, Wet Hot American Summer looks a lot like yet another addition to this played-out subgenre, but it would be a mistake to write it off: this is a deeply subversive satire that systematically dismantles the teen comedy from inside out and re-assembles it as a riotously funny, highly self-reflexive, cult classic. Writer-director David Wain marshals a who’s-who of brilliant comedic performers including co-writer Michael Showalter, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, and a pre-stardom Bradley Cooper (among a host of other notables) to skewer the juvenile tropes of summer camp movies, culminating in an utterly unhinged, high camp (pun intended) take on the last-day-of-camp talent show. 

In the satirical short film Spooning, hapless, self-anointed Broadway “star” Judith is a triple threat – she can sing, dance, and act – but her talents are tragically confined to playing the lead spoon in a theatrical production of Beauty & the Beast. Toronto filmmaker Rebecca Applebaum channels her extensive experience as a professional actor in showbiz to poke fun at a different set of tired movie tropes, in this case the backstage musical. Judith might not be the crowd-pleaser she thinks she is, but this short will have the TOPS audience in stitches.