Review: Theater Camp

Directors:  Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman

Stars:  Molly Gordon, Noah Galvin, Ayo Edebiri

You don’t need to have studied the dramatic arts to recognise the so-called “theatre kids” (sorry, Americans, where possible I’m going to stick to the English spelling here). You’ll either carry dim memories of them from school, or will have picked up the exaggerated (except not really) mannerisms from TV and movies. You may even – gasp! – have been one yourself. So we all know the flamboyance, the embraced weirdness, the narcissism. This mockumentary feature expanded from an original short delves into their vacuous, pretentious, misguided and hilarious world, putting the ‘camp’ into, err, camp, in the process.

Welcome to AdirondACTS; a summer theatre camp for budding pre-teen thespians ran by Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris), the subject of this ‘documentary’ until she is tragically rendered comatose during a performance of Bye Bye Birdie. Flailing for a new subject, the filmmakers – Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman – wander behind-the-scenes where they discover a whole host of am-dram teachers and pupils whose carefully scheduled summer is thrown into chaos when management duties fall to Joan’s vlogger-bro son Troy (Jimmy Tatro, playing things like you ordered Channing Tatum from Wish).

There’s an exhaustive array of potential starlets fleshing out the roster this summer at AdirondACTS – meaning Theater Camp might become a stockpile of before-they-were-famous clips – but the focus here tilts more toward the thankless (and hapless) faculty. Chiefly, co-dependent besties and musical maestros Rebecca-Diane (also Gordon) and Amos Klobuchar (Ben Platt). Their thornily entwined history is the curving spine of this compendium of camp skits. Theater Camp is busy with sub-groups, side-stars, cliques and cameos, creating a heaving mass of characters that combine into something approaching a believable community of outcasts.

Gordon and Lieberman throw themselves into the ‘vérité’ style of the mockumentary with gusto. A little too much gusto, occasionally. You really only need so many smash-zooms or clumsy whip-pans. If nothing else, the eager approach adds to the sense of perpetual chaos at AdirondACTS. The film feels as though it has been grabbed by happenstance, a little too forcefully, even.

Along the way, unsurprisingly, we’re shown a microclimate fuelled by passive aggression, unfair pressure and catty meanness. Most of these teachers – especially Rebecca-Diane and Amos – you wouldn’t wish on anyone. Ironically, the least objectionable might be Ayo Edebiri’s Janet; a faker with no experience hired by Troy to cover all manner of roles as he desperately tries to stop the company haemorrhaging money.

Troy doesn’t understand AdirondACTS, and makes only half-hearted attempts to assimilate. Likewise, it is pointed out to him by Amos that the core staff will never accept him, in spite of his familial advantage. This doesn’t change, either. Theater Camp presents the stage arts, then, as hermetically sealed. Inaccessible to outsiders by design. Elitist and self-absorbed. It’s not particularly flattering, but mockumentary has a habit of laying bare the rotten core of its subjects. Consider how Drop Dead Gorgeous so acerbically attacked the American pageant industry. It’s an apt comparison as the world of Theater Camp isn’t all that far removed; children in both arenas are often perceived as little more than merchandise, or proxies for unfulfilled dreams.

Still, there’s a lot of knowing love here, too, particularly from Gordon who busies Rebecca-Diane with all manner of hippie affectations. She’s like a flower child 50 years removed from her true era and destined for mediocrity.

Stealing the show at the eleventh hour is the wondrous Noah Galvin (this is his second notable turn as a devoted theatre kid following Booksmart). His perennial stagehand Glenn is given his belated time to shine as the camp’s grand performance for parent’s night is threatened by creative differences, walkouts and financial foreclosure. Theater Camp holds its ace for this finale; a song weird enough and catchy enough to dethrone “I’m Just Ken” should enough people find it.

That seems unlikely, however. Theater Camp has arrived at cinemas in the UK as if from nowhere, with no buzz, no promotional ramp-up (the strikes, maybe??). I hadn’t even heard of it a week ago. It’s a Searchlight release so it’ll be rattling around Disney+ come the autumn. A little, scuffed-up gem hidden between the tentpoles of Marvel and Star Wars. It’s a scrappy offering with not much meat on its bones, but there are plenty of laughs to be had here and more than it’s share of silliness. More than enough to warrant your attention at the box office, especially with much of its competition being hurriedly wiped from the slate. A cult title in the making.