If Hollywood aims to bring older audiences back to theaters by making movies about them, I submit Summer Camp as a case study in what works (Eugene Levy!) and what definitely does not — painfully flat attempts at wackiness being the chief offender. Veering between strained slapstick and thoughtful tête-à-têtes, this boomer-focused reunion comedy strands a game cast of accomplished septuagenarians in a mostly laugh-free zone of zip lines and predictable beats.
Director Castille Landon’s screenplay offers some well-crafted dialogue, but it never adds up to anything resembling momentum. Landon, whose previous features include the Katherine Heigl starrer Fear of Rain and a couple of entries in the After series of romance movies, does get the setting right in a story that brings together three lifelong friends at the sleepaway camp where they first met. The friends are played by Diane Keaton (who also serves as a producer), Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard.
Director Castille Landon’s screenplay offers some well-crafted dialogue, but it never adds up to anything resembling momentum. Landon, whose previous features include the Katherine Heigl starrer Fear of Rain and a couple of entries in the After series of romance movies, does get the setting right in a story that brings together three lifelong friends at the sleepaway camp where they first met. The friends are played by Diane Keaton (who also serves as a producer), Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard.
- 5/30/2024
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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