You taste like a burger. I don't like you anymore.

[Cop No. 633]

Okay, so last night there was a screening of Wet Hot American Summer at a small revival theater. If you are unfamiliar with it, get familiar with it!

http://myqueue.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/wet_hot_american_summer_ver1.jpg

It's one of the last great parody films. The film targets summer camp films like Meatballs that were prevalent in the 80's with a mix of Bad News Bears, Vietnam flicks, Jewish culture, and funny original jokes. The cast was something magical. The crew from the State got together for this gem along with many good actors: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Molly Shannon, A.D. Miles, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Marguerite Moreau, Michael Ian Black, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, and Elizabeth Banks.

For me, it's one of my favorite comedies of all time. It's consistently hilarious. From the great opening down to the last shot. There isn't a dull moment in the film. I took some of my buddies who had never seen the film and I envied how much more they laughed than I did. But I did laugh a lot since I haven't seen it in a few years.

The hardest thing about this film is choosing a favorite part. Everything works so well. If there was on one memorable scene I'd pick when Gene shows Coop the "New Way." The editing was fantastic and I love how fucking cheesy it all is... from them hiking to Gene showing Coop how to dance... with the song "Show me the fever... Into the fire... Taking you Higher and Higher!"

Okay, so for those of you who have seen it (I'm looking at you SomeGuy!), name one favorite moment. I know it's tough, but there's so many to choose from.

[therealjohng]

No video stores around me have this. WTF.

[Lost in Space]

No video stores around me have this. WTF.

I have never seen it, because everywhere around here i check for it, i get shrugs.

[Bourne101]

Saw this back when it first came out. I remember it being pretty funny.

[Addi88]

http://ifyoulikethat.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/whas.jpg

I discovered this gem when I blind bought in on VHS at a blockbuster. I then bought a DVD copy so I could spread the happiness and show friends. Every single person I've shown it too has loved it. Actually, a couple friends and I popped this in when we were at a cottage last weekend and we kept finding new things in it that kept us laughing and laughing.

One of my absolute favorite comedies. Period.

"McKinley, there are some lower campers stuck in the obstacle course. I meant to tell you about that yesterday, but could you get to it now?"

[poopontheshoes7]

I dont get the love for this one. It has an awesome cast but I dont think I laughed once. Maybe cracked a smile. I tried rewatching it twice to see if I liked it any better. Didnt happen. I think its one hell of a stupid movie. And I love stupid movies.


*shrugs*

[Cop No. 633]

I'm terribly sorry to hear that. I loved this film from the first frame... it really captured lightning in a bottle for me. It is a very silly film, but the jokes are very well written... it's rare to find that nowadays. Not even their recent film the Ten was nearly as good as this was.

[hauntedtony]

i love that film so much

[superjoe89]

i haven't seen this movie yet, but i defintiely am going to check it out.

[QUENTIN]

Never seen it, a lot of my friends have recommended it to me, but they're all the people who have terrible taste in movies so I've never bothered checking it out. I am pretty curious though, since it has a fairly diehard cult following. Is it's style of humor similar to Strangers with Candy? I heard they're pretty similar and I always thought Strangers sucked.

[Tweek]

I haven't seen this yet. It's on my list along with The Baxter. lol

[Cop No. 633]

Never seen it, a lot of my friends have recommended it to me, but they're all the people who have terrible taste in movies so I've never bothered checking it out. I am pretty curious though, since it has a fairly diehard cult following. Is it's style of humor similar to Strangers with Candy? I heard they're pretty similar and I always thought Strangers sucked.

It's different than Strangers with Candy. I liken it more to old school parody films but with a touch of comedy that only David Wain and Michael Showalter can write. It's a very well written comedy. David Hyde Pierce is great in it... I wish the man would do more films. He's spot on perfect.

[thedudeman69]

I've seen a little bit of it. Some grade A jokes in this.

[Sigur509]

Reason #439 why I need netflix.

[NathanRomano]

SECRET HANDSHAKE!

[Derek237]

When I got home from work tonight I just randomly started singing "higher and higher" to myself. lol.

I love the movie. Definitely in tune with my sense of humour. I would love to get stoned and watch this with my roommates. Not that it needs any drug-enhanced assistance to be hilarious.

I was able to find the DVD at a used DVD store for 8.99, which was amazing, and made me so happy. It is a movie worth looking for....though it's a real love it or hate it kind of flick.

[jackson13]

I went out this morning to the 2 movie stores my town has: Movie Gallery and Blockbuster.

Neither store had it. And, both places, neither person working there had even heard of it.

I found it on Amazon, used, for $8.

Convince me to buy it.

Go.

[detective mills]

I love this movie so much. Everyone in it is absolutely hilarious, especially Paul Rudd. I haven't watched it in a long time though, I need to pull that dvd out of the collection and give it a watch.

My favorite part is when Paul Rudd is being a huge dick to his girlfriend, and then he suddenly changes and is like, "I love you babe, see you later" and then he flips her off as he's walking away. Also the "I want you inside me" line is a favorite.

[Tweek]

Also the "I want you inside me" line is a favorite.

Michael Ian Black uses that with Elizabeth Banks on an episode of "STELLA". But from what I heard of this movie I'm guessing Showalter might say it? lol

I dunno. Carry on.

[eljefe15]

After reading this thread a couple of days ago, I saw that they were showing it on some cable channel, don't remember which one. I started to watch it and realized I had seen parts of it before. Some parts were funny but nothing as spectacular as some people have made it out to be. Needless to say that I didn't finish watching it since I can't stand watching movies with commercials. If and when I get a hold of a real copy, I'll give a shot. It's definitely worth at least that.

[detective mills]

Michael Ian Black uses that with Elizabeth Banks on an episode of "STELLA". But from what I heard of this movie I'm guessing Showalter might say it? lol

I dunno. Carry on.

Yes Michael Showalter says it in this movie. Stella is another great example of comedy from these guys, although the shorts are much funnier than the show. And if you ever get the chance to them live, it's absolutely hilarious.

[someguy]

show me the fever


into the fire





takin it higher and higher

[FLAME_ON]

I saw this on Comedy Central... does it deserve to be seen in it's original cut?

[Lindsey]

I saw this on Comedy Central... does it deserve to be seen in it's original cut?

Oh god yes.

My Hollywood had 1 old dirty VHS version, but I recommended it to a lot if customers who I knew would dig the humor. Most of them dug it, but some found it to be completely over the top. It's fucking hilarious in my opinion. Christopher Meloni is my favorite.

Hahaha... I'm cracking up right now: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_fFHtj2ut4Y

[Tweek]

Yes Michael Showalter says it in this movie. Stella is another great example of comedy from these guys, although the shorts are much funnier than the show. And if you ever get the chance to them live, it's absolutely hilarious.

I love the shorts too... The ones I've seen. I'm not sure how many are out there. God I miss that show though. It was so freakin' stupid but it lives on in my DVD collection. Damn Comedy Central. If they did a live show in my neck of the woods I would faint. Or just be really happy.


I was entirely too young to watch The State though. :(

[outsyder]

Very odd film. A few laugh out loud moments, but the over the top antics seamlessly interwoven with deadpan humour definitely kept me entertained and somewhat bewildered. Very effective absurdism.

See it, if only to hear David Hyde Pierce say "Fuck my cock!" You'll never think of him the same way again.

[spacemonkey]

Saw this movie after checking out this thread. Its a very odd film. Its a film for adults, but has lots of kids in it. The profanity, nudity, drug abuse and everything else in it makes it for adults....but it then gets very silly, almost like a childrens flick.

It has an odd tone to it, very inconsistent.

But some moments were truly hilarious. I laughed so much when the dude with the funky hair crashed that van cause he was so happy he was going to fuck that girl.

I also laughed my ass off when that crazy weird kid suddenly starts using these magic powers out of the blue and makes the wind blow like a huricane, that was like "what the fuck?!" right out of left field.

Also, the dude with the talking vegetable can was funny.

[Tweek]

I'm giving a watch tonight. :cool:

[Lindsey]

I'm giving a watch tonight. :cool:

YAY! I just posted in the Kalifornia thread how you should watch it. And now I read this! You made me proud Tweek. You will fall in love with Christopher Meloni more. (Besides all his nakedness on Oz)

[Cop No. 633]

Saw this movie after checking out this thread. Its a very odd film. Its a film for adults, but has lots of kids in it. The profanity, nudity, drug abuse and everything else in it makes it for adults....but it then gets very silly, almost like a childrens flick.

It has an odd tone to it, very inconsistent.

But some moments were truly hilarious. I laughed so much when the dude with the funky hair crashed that van cause he was so happy he was going to fuck that girl.

I also laughed my ass off when that crazy weird kid suddenly starts using these magic powers out of the blue and makes the wind blow like a huricane, that was like "what the fuck?!" right out of left field.

Also, the dude with the talking vegetable can was funny.

I wouldn't say the tone is inconsistent at all. What the film does is that it takes that naive tone of the summer camp movies and applies it to adult humor. The film is never inconsistent, if you watch it a few more times, you'll see it really has one tone throughout. I mean, Rudd's character kills two kids and it never pauses over it. It just happens and then it moves on. Just like the "Let's go to town!" scene where it's very naive, but the counselors do fucked up shit and come back to camp like nothing happened. It really is a movie to wactch more than once... some jokes just play better on the second or third viewing.

oh, and that kid... it's funny but I think it was the satellite that did all that in the auditorium. The kid just got lucky that it happened or else he would have been the laughing stock of the show. After all, David Hyde Pierce's character gets the Hopkins the very next day! lol

BTW, Tweek, I'm glad you're going to check this one out!

[Tweek]

YAY! I just posted in the Kalifornia thread how you should watch it. And now I read this! You made me proud Tweek. You will fall in love with Christopher Meloni more. (Besides all his nakedness on Oz)

Oh I did, Lindsey. I did. ;) The half-shirt was odd. So was Gene lurking behind that kid. heh




BTW, Tweek, I'm glad you're going to check this one out!



I just watched it. Funny... Funny movie. I was a tad disappointed because I thought David Wain would show up on-screen in addition to directing. If he did, I didn't see him.

But no, SO much funny.

The only problem I had was Michael Ian Black and his distracting petite-ness. The shorts helped nothing!

[spacemonkey]

I wouldn't say the tone is inconsistent at all. What the film does is that it takes that naive tone of the summer camp movies and applies it to adult humor. The film is never inconsistent, if you watch it a few more times, you'll see it really has one tone throughout. I mean, Rudd's character kills two kids and it never pauses over it. It just happens and then it moves on. Just like the "Let's go to town!" scene where it's very naive, but the counselors do fucked up shit and come back to camp like nothing happened.

Thats exactly what Im talking about, one moment its got silly jokes with this guy talking to the nerdy kids about the universe, Garofalo falling in love with nerdy guy, the skinny guy finally finding love with his impossible girl, and then it turns around and has the camp counselors be junkies, a guy fucking a refrigerator, a counselor killing two kids, another one leaving them to drown in the rapids, and then coming back to save them after hours and hours, and what the hell, two gay camp counselors fucking on a very graphic sex sequence!

Come to think of it, it probably is something like that in real life. A bunch of kids running around, and the counselors doing all sorts of crazy shit. But I dont know, maybe the right word isnt incosistent, but there was defenetly something "off" about the whole film. Not saying it wasnt funny, just, a weird movie.

It did have some really sharp humor that you really have to pay attention to or youll miss. LIke that scene where the guy is teaching kids about the universe and he says:

"You know, you could say that we are all just passengers on spaceship earth!"

and one of the kids says "Really? When can we say that?"

"Any time you feel like it. Right now if you want to"

And I also liked it when the "old man" who is hosting the talent show starts making these jokes...they are truly funny shit!


oh, and that kid... it's funny but I think it was the satellite that did all that in the auditorium. The kid just got lucky that it happened or else he would have been the laughing stock of the show. After all, David Hyde Pierce's character gets the Hopkins the very next day! lol


I thought thats what might have been going on, but the way the scene was edited didnt help you to understand that. Actually, it felt like that scene was missing some special effects that they never got to do or something.

Also, dont know if this happened to you, but the sound of the movie was very very low. I couldnt hear what some of the characters were saying sometimes and the volume on my tv was set to MAX! Either the dvd was deffective, or they didnt do a good job with the sound during the filming.

[Tweek]

Thats exactly what Im talking about, one moment its got silly jokes with this guy talking to the nerdy kids about the universe, Garofalo falling in love with nerdy guy, the skinny guy finally finding love with his impossible girl, and then it turns around and has the camp counselors be junkies, a guy fucking a refrigerator, a counselor killing two kids, another one leaving them to drown in the rapids, and then coming back to save them after hours and hours, and what the hell, two gay camp counselors fucking on a very graphic sex sequence!

I liked the shift in humor because it made it more unpredictable and wacky. lol

McKinley and Ben's wedding was hilarious.

I think one of my favorite parts though was between David Hyde Pierce and Janeane Garofalo:

He says "Meet me by the picnic table in 10 seconds." After those 10 seconds she walks over there and he's wearing a lab coat with those kids and he says "Beth, I'm glad you could come by. If you'll recall 10 seconds ago I asked you to meet me here..." I wasn't expecting that part.

LOL

Oh and David Wain was in the deleted scenes for anyone that gives a crap besides me.

Also, dont know if this happened to you, but the sound of the movie was very very low. I couldnt hear what some of the characters were saying sometimes and the volume on my tv was set to MAX! Either the dvd was deffective, or they didnt do a good job with the sound during the filming.

I thought it was my crappy TV. Woo guess not.

[spacemonkey]

Wheew! I thought it had been just me, but every other movie Ive seen after that has sounded great, so yeah, I guess the sound was a little off on this production.

IT looks like it was a tough shoot also, I mean it rained for 25 days of the 28 that they shot. You can tell in certain scenes, its raining heavily in the background, and then in others it isnt.

[dannyschmanny]

love...this..movie.

also check out david wain's second film "the ten". also a great cast and really funny.

im really excited that paul rudd got david wain in to direct and co write the upcoming "Role Models". will be good to see the other half of the state get out to the mainstream.

[therealjohng]

Watching this right now and it's pretty goddamn hilarious.

[Tweek]

Diablo Cody interviewing David Wain last month:

Part One! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytmHtLyYI1A)

Part Two! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytmHtLyYI1A)