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Camp
2003
Todd Graff's crowd-pleasing directorial debut pays tribute to summer camps, musical theatre, and Stephen Sondheim. The heartwarming comedy follows a group of youngsters who gather together for another summer at Camp Ovation, a refuge in upstate New York that nurtures aspiring performers. This year, the arrival of Vlad (Daniel .. Read more
| Starring | Anna Kendrick, Daniel Letterle, Chris Spain, Don Dixon II |
|---|---|
| Director | Todd Graff |
| Genres | Comedy, Gay/Lesbian, Music/Musical |
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Camp
Todd Graff's crowd-pleasing directorial debut pays tribute to summer camps, musical theatre, and Stephen Sondheim. The heartwarming comedy follows a group of youngsters who gather together for another summer at Camp Ovation, a refuge in upstate New York that nurtures aspiring performers. This year, the arrival of Vlad (Daniel Letterle) gets everyone's juices flowing. There's the pretty, but shy, Ellen (Joanna Chilcoat); the oversensitive Michael (Robin De Jesus); the stuck up Jill (Alana Allen); the tormented, overweight Jenna (Tiffany Taylor); the scheming Fritzi (Anna Kendrick); and the beautiful Dee (Sasha Allen). In awe of the camp's guest instructor, Bert Hanley (Don Dixon), Vlad is crushed to discover that he has become a bitter, cynical alcoholic. Amidst the raging hormones and daily melodramas, the kids must nonetheless concentrate on the task at hand, which includes staging the summer's final production. Determined not to succumb to Bert's negative influence, Vlad convinces everyone to stage a performance that will inspire everyone. Using a cast of incredibly talented unknowns, Graff makes certain that each budding superstar has their moment to shine. Shifting between comedy and drama in the span of a single scene, Graff also packs CAMP with enough in-jokes and musical numbers to make for a highly entertaining experience.
| Starring | Anna Kendrick, Daniel Letterle, Chris Spain, Don Dixon II, Sasha Allen |
|---|---|
| Director | Todd Graff |
| Studio | MOMENTUM PICTURES |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 45 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy, Gay/Lesbian, Music/Musical |
| Language | English |
| Released | DVD: 26 Apr 2004 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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Think Fame in a summer camp for teenage Broadway hopefuls and that's actor/writer Todd Graff's sweet, feel-good directorial debut in a nutshell. Despite a variable tone that lurches awkwardly from bitchy put-down to serious drama, this sparkling celebration of musical theatre lives up to its title. Fame-hungry types gather at Camp Ovation to rehearse four shows every two months for the locals. Talented (and straight) new student Daniel Letterle becomes everyone's lust object as he engineers a benefit finale written by Broadway has-been-turned-counsellor Don Dixon. Featured routines include numbers from Dreamgirls, Follies, Company (composer Stephen Sondheim cameos, too) and Promises, Promises — all showstoppers in their own right. But Graff handles complex issues of teen sexuality in totally un-clichéd ways. The unknown cast captures such emotional growing pains without losing any entertainment value in a treat for all theatre geeks, Sondheim fans and teen-comedy lovers.
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Unfolding as a series of freeform scenes, this finds sexually confused, Prozac popping, fag-hagging, egomaniacal... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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9 out of 11 people found this review helpful
Ever felt you just didn't fit in?
Camp follows the story of teenaged americians at a summer camp for drama students. As with any drama camp it brings its share of odd characters.
The plot does hold many a cliche' but with little twists, that really just add to its 'camp' humour.
It is overall a bit of light fluff, but I feel the difference with this film is the music and the voices that the film has discovered. It has all the classic traits of a great musical with songs that you just start to hum and hear again after you've finished watching the film.
Despite the other sub plots the film really does talk about everyone finding there place. A fantastic feel good movie, uplifting and heart warming.
Definiantly worth watching. -
Most recent members' review
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4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Great idea sadly left to rot
The principle behind this film seemed good and, unusually for this type of drama, it had some interesting and unusual characters (with a very talented young cast). However, at this point, the quality fell down seriously. The major plot twists were completely undeveloped, some of the actions uncharacteristic, developing from a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature, and those plot twists that were consistent with character could be seen coming for miles and fit in with the typical cliches of this genre: the fat girl's parents finally discovered her true worth and beauty when they heard her sing, and the 'ugly' girl finally found a boyfriend who liked her for herself. Overall, I got the impression that the last hour was just the writer desperately trying to keep his own dying interest in the film alive - there was little hope for mine!
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