Summary
- Great cast and poor execution –
Summer Camp
fails to fully utilize the talents of Keaton, Bates, Woodard, Levy, and Haysbert in this comedy that feels like many other movies. - The film does pick up a bit in the second half, when the plot and characters become a bit more interesting.
- Kathy Bates and Betsy Sodaro do stand out in the film, making
Summer Camp
a little funnier and more charming than it should be.
Summer Camp had three great things on its side: Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, and Alfre Woodard, all award-winning actresses who are among the finest of their generation. It’s a shame writer-director Castille Landon (After Ever Happy) couldn’t find a way to make better use of their talents in a comedy about three best friends who return to the beloved summer camp where they became friends. Rays of hope peak out in the film’s second half when some semblance of real plot and character development emerge, nearly saving the film, but by that point, the movie has already drifted across the lake without any real oars.
Summer Camp is a light-hearted tale involving Nora (Keaton), Ginny (Bates), and Mary (Woodard), who became BFFs at summer camp so long ago. Time, commitments, and age have made at least two of them weary, so when a summer camp reunion becomes a reality, it brings the gals back to where their initial bonds were formed. It all gives them a chance to reflect more deeply on their life choices and realize the value of maintaining deep friendships.
Great premise. Poor execution. But if you can stay with the film past the halfway mark, there are some enjoyable moments, and its cast, including Beverly D’Angelo, Eugene Levy, Dennis Haysbert, Josh Peck, Nicole Richie, and Betsy Sodaro, may surprise you.
Kathy Bates Is Great in a Clone of Other Movies
Summer Camp (2024)
2/5
Nora, Ginny, and Mary have been close friends since they were children, and have spent their summer vacations together without fail, attending sleepaway camp as a trio. As they have aged, their opportunities to spend time together have dwindled, and thus, when the chance for a summer camp reunion presents itself, they all accept it, albeit with different levels of enthusiasm.
- Release Date
- May 31, 2024
- Director
- Castille Landon
- Runtime
- 1h 36m
- Writers
- Castille Landon
- Distributor(s)
- Roadside Attractions
- While the first half is a slog, Summer Camp gets interesting in its second half and Kathy Bates really shines.
- Summer Camp feels like any number of other Diane Keaton movies from this century.
- Actors, especially Eugene Levy and Dennis Haysbert, are severely wasted.
Remember Book Club: The Next Chapter or Love, Weddings & Other Disasters? Or even About My Father? Each of those films over-frosted their creative cakes. They went for sugar highs instead of depth and, in the case of this film, better character development and editing. Two of the aforementioned films happen to have also starred Diane Keaton, who seems to have taken on more lighthearted ensemble pieces lately, outings that frequently showcase her shrieking and overreacting to something all too often. Perhaps that’s a thing that audiences have come to like: Diane Keaton replaying a version of her role in The First Wives Club?
One star shines brightly here and it’s Kathy Bates. The Miracle Club actress adds some spunk to a story searching for soul and depth. Bates plays Ginny, a best-selling author and the main narrator of Summer Camp. She’s stoked to reunite her two friends, who are stuck in a rut. That plays well into Ginny’s life path as an inspiring author — think Oprah by way of Brené Brown with shades of Rhonda Byrne. Keaton’s Nora has become a workaholic, no doubt avoiding the pain of being widowed so long ago. Meanwhile, Woodard’s Mary is in a marriage that fizzled out, and no amount of therapeutic CPR may save it.
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Fellas filter into the mix, too, but nothing emerges from them until the film’s second half. We’re talking about Eugene Levy as Stevie and Dennis Haysbert as Tommy. If there’s any concern that Hollywood may not be handing out enough suitable comedic roles for fine older actors, this film is proof of it. Levy seems out of place and caged in with the material he’s given here, yet kind of makes it work because he’s just that charming.
Haysbert isn’t as fortunate. There’s a potential spark between his Tommy and Mary, who were summer camp crushes so long ago, but the film has either been over-edited for time or Tommy just wasn’t written effectively enough. Collectively, watching these otherwise stellar actors becomes painful for more than half the film. Let’s put it this way: If you walked into Starbucks and saw Cher singing there, you’d pay attention, but wonder what the hell Cher was doing singing in Starbucks.
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But, what’s this? Somewhere, halfway in, the frosting is scraped off. Hints of more depth emerge. We learn more about Mary’s troubled marriage and, at last, Woodard is given a chance to reveal more about the character she’s been given to play. Keaton doesn’t fare that well with Nora, who remains mostly two-dimensional, but here’s where Levy becomes a saving grace as his character draws out things from Nora that have been buried.
Then there’s Bates. Ginny, the ringleader behind reuniting the gals, has secrets of her own. At one point, we feared there was going to be a big “I have cancer” reveal because the mood and tone of the film suggested Ginny was keeping things way too close to her chest. That cancer reveal could have made for a better movie, even though we’ve experienced way too many films cut from that plot thread before. Still, Ginny emerges as the intelligent voice and heart of the film.
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Meanwhile, side players like Beverly D’Angelo never get much more to do than fill scenes so that the screenwriter could make a point about a certain subject like loss, death, renewal, or reinvention. Betsy Sodaro (Ghosts) is a great comic foil here, and in this context, she’s one of the best things about the movie, playing a dorky kind of Forever Summer Camp geek.
The summer camp setting itself is nicely shot and the big reunion, filled with so many people, offers some fun during the crowd scenes. Thankfully, the final 25 minutes give us something to consider in terms of story and character development. Stay for that and Bates. Sometimes you only need two tentpoles. Summer Camp opens in theaters on Friday, May 31.
