Movie Review: Theater Camp

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

A laugh out loud funny movie. 

This film is the brain child of Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman (who all wrote and starred in the film together (Gordon and Lieberman directed it)), all of whom were very much theater children. They looked back on their experiences and brought us this gem of a comedy. What makes this movie so funny is that because of this there is always a kernel of truth behind all of the gags no matter how over the top they get. You do not need to be a theater person to see this truth. Those who are truly and utterly passionate about something and dedicate their lives to that passion are almost all a very eccentric group of people, who are simply a different bread than everyone else. This movie takes these eccentricates and plays them to their extremes for comedic effect but this is not done to the point to make these characters caricatures. Instead as over the top as these characters are, they are not too far removed for somebody we could meet in real life. That much of the comedy comes directly from these characters and what makes them who they are is what makes it so funny. In a comedy, you can easily forgive any faults, if it is simply funny enough and this movie is. I not only giggled and smiled watching this film but I laughed out loud through much of it (as did most of the audience with me). I came into this film expecting to have a few light laughs, I did not except to laugh out loud the way I did. The scene where we actually got to see the play was simply near perfect with one big laugh directly after another. It also helps that this is a movie that not only has some great gags, but with how many of these gags truly catch you by surprise. 

This film does have its faults though. The faux documentary style of filmmaking does seem to simply come and go at times and there are times when you forget that this is supposed to be a fake documentary. Also the story can get a little too familiar and predictable at times. There are times when the comedy can take how conventional the storyline is and have fun with it, but there aren't enough of these. 

This is simply put, a very good time at the movies.