Movie #14 : Theater Camp

 "Theater Camp" is a new movie release in 2023 directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman. This was both of their first times directing. The movie has an all-star cast including Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Ayo Edebiri, Patti Harrison, and more. I have seen all of these people in shows and movies before and I love them all. I feel like they were perfectly cast for this movie and many of them definitely went to theater camp when they were kids. 

The movie follows Troy, played by Tatro, trying to run his mother's theater camp despite having the personality of Justin Bieber and no financial experience. His mother fell into a coma, so now he must run the camp while it is on the brink of financial ruin. Teachers at the camp, Amos and Rebecca-Diane, put on a play called Joan, Still, in honor of Troy's mother. The all work to save the camp and make this play happen. We as viewers get to experience the high and lows of an intense theater camp. 

"Theater Camp" was almost too realistic where I started to hate the characters. Amos, played by Platt, was actually the most annoying person I've watched on screen recently and I knew if I had meet someone like him, I would hate him. He's the type to strongly resist change and push others to stay back with him. He also thinks he is some sort of talent god blessing these kids at camp when in reality he couldn't really be a professional performer.

This movie also had a bunch of child actors who I thought were all extremely talented. They were perfectly cast and had the humor of normal theater kids. It was also very diverse group of kids which really emphasized that anyone could love and pursue theater. One of the funniest moments was where one of the kids exclaimed that he was able to live his truth as a heterosexual man. Like, as he should.

The way this movie was filmed was also an interesting stylistic choice. It was filmed with an unsteady camera and grainy film. As if they had hired a film student to document their camp. They also provided the names and occupations of the main characters as they came on screen. I remember on of the little boys named Alan was written as an aspiring agent. He was one of my favorites and he is actually Alan Kim, who won the BAFTA best supporting actor for "Minari". If anyone hasn't seen it, please do.

When I watched this with my friend in theaters, we came in 10 minutes late because she got the times mixed up. Luckily, she read about it and was able to fill me in on the beginning. The theater was pretty empty, but we sat in the front. In the back, there was a group of people who laughed way too loud at everything. It was a nice environment where you can laugh loud, but sometimes it was too much. Like, I could tell these were theater kids personally relating to the movie.

I recommend this movie to those who just want a silly laugh. You don't need to be a theater kid to enjoy it!