Since this is the unofficial last weekend of summer, I decided to geek out on something that has some summertime built into it. The film Camp hit movie theaters in January 2003 and gave a blast of summer in the middle of winter. The film centers around Camp Ovation, a summer performing arts camp where the students stage a crazy number of shows during their weeks away from home.
We go back and forth between the campers preparing for the various shows and all the teenage goings on at a co-ed camp. Boys and girls alike are ga–ga for the hot new guy; the showbiz diva is determined to get all the good parts no matter the cost; the gay kid just wants his parents to come see his big role and accept him; the one-hit wonder/alcoholic camp counselor wonders what he did to end up here (and the kids try to help him find redemption).
The film, as you’d expect, has a great soundtrack. There are showtunes (from Promises, Promises, Dreamgirls and Company), covers of Rolling Stones and Todd Rundgren songs as well as original songs written for the film.
I dug up a couple of clips to show off this movie. First up is a peek at the camp’s version of Dreamgirls in which they had to do color-blind and age-blind casting. It’s a hoot.
Next up is one of the film’s original songs, “Century Plant.” The setup here is that it’s one of the songs from the one-hit wonder camp counselor’s unheard collection. The campers are trying to use it to draw him out of his shell.
