On the one hand, it is a pity that this movie has the make-up of a teen movie. Because it is at times, cleverly written, and well acted, with un-mainstream kind of takes. And the teen-flic make-up sets it up for thrashing by the peeps who don't take the time to watch this one a tat more closely. But F- them. This one should have had the following of a Rushmore Academy.
One of the nice things about it, is that whenever it threatens to become a cliché, i.e. whenever one of the characters uses one of those cliché lines, it is immediately followed by an cliché exposing line! This is kinda refreshing. For example Swain says something that would be sold to us as a "Deep-And-Meaningful-Possibly-Oscar-Winning-Moment"- in ANY other teen-flic, and follows that up with a heartfelt 'I can't believe I just said that!' I apologize for not giving a better example of this. I'd have to watch it again to do so.
More interestingly, I think it is the first time that I saw a 12 year old gay character in an American movie? Okay, so it wasn't explored very much, and was made explicit only at the end, but give the man credit for bringing it up in the first place. I'm sure the actor was 16, okay maybe 14, but he looked 12 at least. And the whole lesbian thing, it was nice to look at but not exploitive and left pleasantly unsolved. As were the romance(s). No clear-cut happy-ever-afters for these guys. It's like Coupling in that it tries to make interesting observations about the bizarre nature of female and male behaviour, in groups and opposite each other. And the seven voice-overs, yeah, maybe a bit annoying and the Indie-Powers-That-Be have declared that it is Foul and Trite to use voice-over, (but not Oscar nominated Danish top director Lars von Trier [ uk.imdb.com/name/nm0001885/ ] for example), BUT it is new, and it really tries to paint the story from different angles. Not Rashomon by a long shot of course, but still, it's way better than genre flics like 'She's all that' and '10 things I hate about you.'
Actually, there's no comparison, the only thing they have in common with _Happy Campers_ is that the character are young teens. Period.
Ultimately, this is about loss and coming of age, and the fact that some of us do have a great time at camp. And some us ... don't, not at all, no way José.
There are some profound lines and insights. And also some nice quotes: On the first menstruation of a girl: "That was not a period, but an exclamation mark!" ...... New to me, anyways.
One of the nice things about it, is that whenever it threatens to become a cliché, i.e. whenever one of the characters uses one of those cliché lines, it is immediately followed by an cliché exposing line! This is kinda refreshing. For example Swain says something that would be sold to us as a "Deep-And-Meaningful-Possibly-Oscar-Winning-Moment"- in ANY other teen-flic, and follows that up with a heartfelt 'I can't believe I just said that!' I apologize for not giving a better example of this. I'd have to watch it again to do so.
More interestingly, I think it is the first time that I saw a 12 year old gay character in an American movie? Okay, so it wasn't explored very much, and was made explicit only at the end, but give the man credit for bringing it up in the first place. I'm sure the actor was 16, okay maybe 14, but he looked 12 at least. And the whole lesbian thing, it was nice to look at but not exploitive and left pleasantly unsolved. As were the romance(s). No clear-cut happy-ever-afters for these guys. It's like Coupling in that it tries to make interesting observations about the bizarre nature of female and male behaviour, in groups and opposite each other. And the seven voice-overs, yeah, maybe a bit annoying and the Indie-Powers-That-Be have declared that it is Foul and Trite to use voice-over, (but not Oscar nominated Danish top director Lars von Trier [ uk.imdb.com/name/nm0001885/ ] for example), BUT it is new, and it really tries to paint the story from different angles. Not Rashomon by a long shot of course, but still, it's way better than genre flics like 'She's all that' and '10 things I hate about you.'
Actually, there's no comparison, the only thing they have in common with _Happy Campers_ is that the character are young teens. Period.
Ultimately, this is about loss and coming of age, and the fact that some of us do have a great time at camp. And some us ... don't, not at all, no way José.
There are some profound lines and insights. And also some nice quotes: On the first menstruation of a girl: "That was not a period, but an exclamation mark!" ...... New to me, anyways.