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Comedy and Musical / Performing Arts - 1 hr. 55 min.
This musical set at a summer camp for young singers, dancers, actors and musicians tells the story of Bert Hanley, a former Broadway songwriter who has to work at the camp because his career has burnt out after a series of flops. Inspired by the kids at the camp, however, Bert sees his chance to find success again by recruiting them to put together a new production. The long summer days at Camp Ovation are ripe with life lessons, fast friendships, jealousies and antics, along with the shocking discovery that there is an honest-to-goodness straight boy in the bunch.
Release Date: July 25th, 2003 (LA/NY/SF).
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic elements regarding teen sexual issues, and some language.
On the set in between filming with Daniel Letterle
Director: Todd Graff
Reviews
John DeSando
In this `Camp' the summertime learning is supposedly about performing in musicals. A regimen of one show every 2 weeks (`Follies,' `Dreamgirls,' and `Promises, Promises,' for example) should have schooled even the best slacker, but the shenanigans outside of rehearsal unfortunately are the more important learning focus for most of the film. The ensemble song ''Turkey Lurkey Time'' from `Promises' is proof of the cast's potential talent and that of director Todd Graff, who served as a counselor at the real camp, Stagedoor Manor. Yet Graff spends an inordinate amount of time on the sexual meanderings of the multi-ethnic teens, who are still struggling with their identity but having little problem exploring the question. Better would have been emphasizing the transformation of kids to actors through the guidance of the camp professionals. Vlad, the rare heterosexual boy at this camp, is lucking out all over the place as the object of affections for gays and straight girls. Neither he nor most other actors in this film are more than the best of their high-school drama club. In fact, watching this film is like watching a good high-school musical. In its favor, the film tries to be democratic. As Stephen Holden of the ` New York Times' put it in contrast to `Fame': `These teenagers -- black, white, Latino, gay and straight -- display a hip, easygoing candor, especially when it comes to sexual orientation, that's pretty much unprecedented for a teenager-slanted movie musical.'`Fame's' `Out Here on My Own' is done well, as is ''And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going'' from ''Dreamgirls.' Also, some of the original songs are memorable, especially the ballads composed and written by `Fame's' Michael Gore and Lynn Ahrens. But `Fame' this film is not.`Camp' overall is punctuated by some stunning vocal renditions interspersed with teen love affairs maybe even less interesting than that of J Lo and Ben Affleck. The off-stage drama has the feel of a high-school play while on-stage performance is professional and delightful.
scrgirli91
I liked CAMP because I can relate to the story. I go to a performing arts camp, and these characters are real, and the stories are real. They show that it's okay to be yourself, and I admire that. The talent was amazing, and everything, especially the direction and writing, was awesome. This is a wonderful movie, and I urge you to go see it. The comedy is perfect, but the drama of it really shines too.
CherryColaLuver
I went into all this expecting some lame low-budget movie, but let me tell you, Camp was worth every cent. The acting was very good, except for a few scenes between Ellen and Vlad, and the plot kept me interested the entire time. I especially loves how Robin De Jesus protrayed his drag-queen character... it would have been an easy roll to mess up, but he did it beautifully. Two thumbs up!
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