For those who grew up with Wet Hot American Summer, it’s a comedy that’s hard to beat. It’s definitely a movie where you need to be on its wavelength though. But even if you’re not on that very particular and very odd wavelength, it’s the type of comedy you can get something out of. Namely, a sense of awe in just how many pre-fame stars are stuffed in one 90-minute movie. As a result, a follow-up seemed next to impossible. For one, the film flopped hard. Two, half its cast became A-listers. But all of the film’s cast members really enjoyed their experience making the movie. They all got along very well (which is actually part of the movie’s appeal), so they ended up being game for a return to Camp Firewood.
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Thus, 14 years after the release of the movie, we got the Netflix miniseries Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. And it was even better than the movie.
What Makes Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp the Perfect Follow-Up to the Movie?
First Day of Camp‘s core concept is a hilarious one. All of the cast members are almost fifteen years older, yet they’re playing slightly younger versions of their younger selves. That in and of itself is very funny, but First Day of Camp also manages to go for eight episodes and never allow the laugh-a-minute style to become grating.
Most of the characters are given charming, goofy plots. However, most are not given full-on character arcs, which is for the best, considering it would change who they were when the events of the movie kicked off. Equally importantly, Wet Hot just isn’t the type of project where characters have arcs, they barely exist in reality.
What really helps First Day of Camp stand above the film is the writing. Michael Showalter and David Wain (the latter of whom again serves as director, as well) only got better at their craft between the movie and the show without losing a shred of the spastic energy that helped allow the film feel so spontaneous.
It was also great to see the gang back together. As mentioned earlier, most of the characters aren’t given full arcs. The exceptions are Elizabeth Banks and Bob’s Burgers‘ H. Jon Benjamin. We learn that Banks’ Lindsay is actually a journalist on the search for a reclusive rock star (played charmingly by newcomer Chris Pine, proving he’s made for comedy just as he did in Horrible Bosses 2) and we learn how Benjamin’s Mitch became, well, a Can of Mixed Vegetables.
First Day of Camp‘s other newcomers also help keep the show feeling fresh, helping to steer it away from repeating the film’s jokes too often. The newcomers include Jason Schwartzman, Lake Bell, Michaela Watkins, Jon Hamm (as The Falcon, an assassin who spars with Christopher Meloni’s chef in a hilarious scene), John Slattery as a snooty Broadway actor-director, and Kristen Wiig and Josh Charles as a pair of snooty counselors at the neighboring Camp Tigerclaw.
Unfortunately, 2017’s Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later couldn’t keep the ball rolling. It’s not bad, but much of the spontaneous magic of the movie and First Day of Camp is absent. The series originated with a line of dialogue from the film. Early in the movie, the counselors tell each other they’ll all reunite after a decade has passed.
Ten Years Later was able to bring back Banks, Benjamin, Michael Ian Black, Janeane Garofalo, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Christopher Meloni, David Hyde Pierce, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, and Molly Shannon, amongst others, but Wet Hot alum Bradley Cooper had to sit it out.
He’s replaced by Adam Scott, with the explanation that the character, Ben, had undergone cosmetic surgery. Naturally, losing Cooper isn’t enough of a loss to sink the ship when the ship is populated with so many other talented people, but Ten Years Later just can’t help but feel like it’s treading water. Not the case with First Day of Camp, though, which was and remains a gift for Wet Hot American Summer fans that they never thought they would get.
