[CRITICAL SERIES] WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER : FIRST DAY AT CAMP

En 2001 out WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER in the US and quickly gets the status of a cult film. If it is still unseen by us, the series adapted the said film is well arrived in France on the 31st July last, thanks to Netflix, which is trying to multiply the in-house productions to offer a catalogue of more attractive (Daredevil, BoJack Horseman or Orange Is The New Black, to name a few). Then WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER : FIRST DAY AT CAMP, that is-what it is ? A prequel that occurs on the first day of colo, while the film was the last. On the menu : what the fuck galore, wigs, hideous, and a nice brochette of actors, bringing together well-known names from the big screen, but also the small. Bulk found Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Jason Schwartzman, Jon Hamm, Michael Cera, Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig , and dozens of others that you would like to discover in roles also stamped the one than the other.

The success of this series lies in its inventiveness persistent, imposed from the outset by its basic concept : players, adults dressed in wigs kitsch embody the monos adolescents. And this is only the beginning of a series, which connects the gags implausible from beginning to end. It is not necessary to be allergic to the crude humor, lourdingue or wacky, if not the project will leave you perplexed as soon as the first 30 minutes of the episode inaugural. To give you a small idea of what awaits you : a man pursuing another man in a forest. The pursued came to a tiny tree trunk that is lying down and instead of the step-over, he prefers to crawl underneath. The inconsistency is done with a plumb disarming that makes it all logical once one has adhered to the spirit of the show. This niche is held until in the last seconds, without respite. On a plot of film camping (of monos and young people will be faced with stories of the heart and character of the various protagonists) are grafted to a host of other arches story more or less important, and from lots of different genres. One juggles between the film of the trial, the musical, the war film, the wedding film and we let it happen. The freedom writing allows you to immerse in a kind of time-only a few minutes (a chase worthy of a slasher, for example). The plot has a nice range on a day, the temporal logic is blasted without a care in the likelihood and it happens almost more events than in a season of 24 Hours Chrono. Impossible to get bored for a single second during the 8 episodes !

The explorations of the genre through parody is done with skill, in the evocation of the codes specific to certain types of film. What is even more interesting is that the codes of the series are discussed, such as the notion of cliffhanger many times mocked or the last seconds of the final, which open out on to a next season with a scene that has no interest ! The start of episode 4 shows how to mock the authors of this series discusses the format of the series. We are witnessing 4 minutes during which we follow a man completely outside of history and we will not see ever except for at the end of the last episode, the time of a few seconds. Those few minutes, consequent, because one episode lasts for about 27-28 minutes, is reminiscent of the scenes found in the beginning of the episode in a classic series to tease the viewer and whose answer is to be found much later. Breaking Bad in particular, has used this process with malice. Has the image of what it was like to Scream the first name in the horror movie, WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER : FIRST DAY AT CAMP can be regarded as a tainted absolutely jubilant.

The band of characters that are mocked, an alliance between the physical grotesque personalities and extravagant. One feels affection for them over the episodes. A mysterious spell is on the viewer, to make us forget that they are adults disguised and are seen as human beings are exceptional. Each one reveals its weaknesses, mostly related to love and you realize that to them it is a bit of us. Normal love is at the heart of the show, we know that the holiday camps, and summer, by extension, are good places to batifolages. During episode 07, Lindsay tells us about his new article on the phone. She lists the people she has met : “teenagers are The archetypes. If this is the case, they were all there. The nice guy, the popular girl, the rebel, the goody-two-shoes, the ladies ‘ man, the guy’s adorable, which makes of the theatre, the teaser, the good friend, the wild, the sports… All the world is represented to the colo Firewood“. This skewer is a succession of snapshots, which we scoffed with pleasure. But what we especially loved to love, since each one is worked within by desires, fears. The rebel (Paul Rudd) has all of the character’s head slapped, insolent, and he reveals in the final episode 04 the one hand, of him more sensitive to the repositioning for the second part of the season.

”The inconsistency is done with a plumb disarming that makes it all logical once one has adhered to the spirit of the show. Exhilarating !”

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER : FIRST DAY AT CAMP impressed us by its frenetic pace, its multiplication of plots and characters. In the last minutes of the final episode, Coop is, for Lisa, about all the events that took place the previous day. The opportunity for we, the viewers, to immerse themselves in our memories, in the multitude of events scattered during the 8 episodes. One recalls the memorable scenes, hilarious gags, sometimes only a plan, see things that we had forgotten. And we said that we would sign on the field for a new day in their company.

@MaximeB