Movie Review: Camp

You know, I was hesistant to move to this little hamlet for several reasons. Being too close to parents, I'm not grown up enough and probably the most crucial: There's no entertainment. Oh sure, the multiplex plays the latest Shrek confection or The Ring, part gazillion. But where are the art movies? I read about them in my entertainment rags, but never seen them. I could make the trek to Denver, but that's not always an option.

Then came Netflix, and I have to tell you folks, I'm thinking I'm not missing out on anything. Maybe it's the big screen, maybe it's the real butter on the popcorn or even the fuchia mohawked haired college kid next to me, but something has been lost when these tiny flicks reach an even tinier screen. I joined Netflix to see what I was missing.

So here is my review of the movie: Camp

I'm going to give this movie a 3 out of five stars. I really wanted to like this movie. It has my own personal bias--I performed in a similar performing arts camp many moons ago. But my experience was nothing like I saw here.

The movie is unsure what it wants to be and it's sadly put up on screen. If it's a comedy (and with a name like 'Camp' you would think with bunches of bad taste) it isn't very funny. A joke surfaces here in there, but there are no send ups or plot twists. If it's a gay movie, there isn't much gay about it. Sure, many gay men surface, but the swishy stereotypes with excellent drag (I don't know you, but where can you find a pink boa in Upstate New York woods?). If it's a tale of the trials of becoming famous, I don't see anyone without talent.

The script, written by the director, starts and stops. Great ideas are brought up (why is the straight kid there?), dropped and started again without resolution. A drunken character drinks in excess, stops to discuss something in another scene, completely sober, and takes up drinking when everything works out well.

Huh?

The main straight character hits on the 'moderate' girl (we know this becuase she merely tells us) has sex with a pretty one, goes back and then his girlfriend who he has been cheating on this entire time shows up. And are we supposed to like him? I can't help thinking that if the director took time to think about what he wanted to communicate and carry out in the making of this motion picture, it would have held everything together. Instead, we're happy, lost and then really confused by the end.

Where I do give this movie credit--why didn't the director do this onstage? There is an obvious affection for the boards and the scenes work up to great musical numbers, obviously also written by the director. I've always hated when HBO and Showtime would videotape/camera-fy a stage play. The mediums are all wrong. There are no takes in theatre, no changing shots. Here is where such a set up would have been successful.

So I like the music, the staging, and well, I really wanted to like this movie. I like the leads and really want to see them sing again. But can we please see a movie where the gay man is the lead, doesn't have a crush on every straight male and comes out successful and happy and doesn't even wear a dress? Where is Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss when you need it?

peace.