Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

Summary: Last day at Camp Firewood, August 1981. There's a director (Janeane Garofalo), a lifeguard (Paul Rudd), an arts and crafts lady (Molly Shannon), various counselors (Michael Showalter, Marguertie Moreau, Michael Ian Black, Zak Orth, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Amy Poehler, and Bradley Cooper), and a couple of kitchen guys (Christopher Meloni and A.D. Miles). Variegated insanity including a love triangle, a desperate attempt to lose one's virginity, a rafting trip, and a space lab part landing during the talent show ensues.

Okay, let's see here: think of any movie you have seen set during summer camp. Think of any movie set during summer, period. Think of a few romantic comedies. Think of Rocky. Got it all in mind there? Good. Now let's make fun of all of it by blowing it completely out of proportion.

And . . . that's the ball game. Hilarious movie. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination -- not all the jokes work, some bits don't come together, some of the actors don't fit in their roles -- but wonderfully inspired. Director and co-writer David Wain and co-writer Showalter have a great handle on the sheer insanity that is summer camp as well as the trite film conventions they mock so lovingly. Yes, lovingly. Not ruthlessly. You've really got to love movies to make fun of them this much. That town sequence? Or that moment with Garofalo and Rudd in the dining hall? Or Garofalo and Truglio's destructive search for Marino? Genius.

Although the ensemble is well put together, there's really only one stand out: Rudd. Way, way back in the Clueless days, I liked Rudd well enough, but I didn't see the big deal. His forehead's big, and he's got the kind of lips that demand that you grab his face and smush them up in a "Isn't he adorable?" grandmotherly sort of way. He's the boy next door type. I firmly held that belief until a recent interview convinced me that Rudd was hilarious in the kind of way that made me want him as my friend. As such, I had to track down, of all things, a completely off-the-radar comedy from 2001.

Rudd is a treasure in the movie. A gem. A find. I could watch him pitch that hilarious fit in the dining lodge a hundred times over and still crack up. The delivery on the line, "You taste like burgers. I don't like you anymore." had me in stitches. He has excellent comedic timing: never stepping over anyone else, never let it hang for too long, never giving away that he's sitting on something hysterical. I wish I could hang out with him now.

If only I hadn't sent the DVD back so soon. B+