Taglines: It was the last day of summer camp. It was the first day of the third week in August.
Wet Hot American Summer movie storyline. The setting is Camp Firewood, the year 1981. It’s the last day before everyone goes back to the real world, but there’s still a summer’s worth of unfinished business to resolve. At the center of the action is camp director Beth, who struggles to keep order while she falls in love with the local astrophysics professor. He is busy trying to save the camp from a deadly piece of NASA’s Skylab which is hurtling toward earth. All that, plus: a dangerous waterfall rescue, love triangles, misfits, cool kids, and talking vegetable cans. The questions will all be resolved, of course, at the big talent show at the end of the day.
Wet Hot American Summer is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by David Wain from a screenplay written by Wain and Michael Showalter. The film features an ensemble cast, including Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Michael Showalter (and various other members of MTV’s sketch comedy group The State), Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, and A. D. Miles. The film takes place during the last full day at a fictional summer camp in 1981, and spoofs the sex comedies aimed at teen audiences of that era.
The film is based on the experiences Wain had while attending Camp Modin, a Jewish camp, located in Belgrade, Maine, and Showalter had at Camp Mohawk in the Berkshires in Cheshire, Massachusetts. During one scene, the counselors take a trip into Waterville, Maine, which is not far from the camp. It is also a parody of, and homage to, other films about summer camp such as Meatballs (1979), Sleepaway Camp (1983), and Indian Summer (1993). According to Wain, they wanted to make a film structured like films such as Nashville, Dazed and Confused and Do the Right Thing—”films that take place in one contained time period that have lots of different characters.”
Principal photography lasted 28 days, and, according to director David Wain, it rained on every day of shooting. Exterior shots were filmed when possible, sometimes under covers or umbrellas, but some scenes were moved indoors instead. In many interior scenes, rain seen outside turns into sun as soon as characters step outside. Due to the cold, the actors’ breath can be seen in some outdoor scenes. The film was shot at Camp Towanda in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
As the film is set in the early 1980s, the film’s soundtrack features songs from many popular bands of the era, most notably Jefferson Starship, Rick Springfield, Loverboy, and KISS.
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Directed by: David Wain
Starring: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Amy Poehler, Michael Ian Black
Screenplay by: David Wain, Michael Showalter
Production Design by: Mark White
Cinematography by: Ben Weinstein
Film Editing by: Meg Reticker
Costume Design by: Jill Kliber
Set Decoration by: Lisa Scoppa
Art Direction by: Bryan Hodge
Music by: Theodore Shapiro, Craig Wedren
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content, language and a drug sequence.
Distributed by: USA Films
Release Date: July 27, 2001
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