Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Theater Camp’ on Hulu, a Mockumentary That Hopes To Be A New-Era ‘Waiting For Guffman’

In the spirit of Christopher Guest comes Theater Camp (now on Hulu), an improv-heavy mockumentary that hopes to be a new-era Waiting for Guffman. First-time directors Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman put together an array of funnyfolk ranging from Amy Sedaris to Ben Platt to Gordon’s The Bear co-star Ayo Edebiri for this warmhearted ribbing of stage-kid culture. It’s pretty funny even if you don’t belong to the particular subculture being spoofed – in spite of its many inside-baseball jokes, and I apologize for bringing up sports in this particular context. It won’t happen again.   

THEATER CAMP: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Joan Rubinsky (Sedaris) is an icon in Upstate New York theater-kid circles – enough that someone deemed her worthy of being the subject of a documentary. See, she started Adirondacts, a beloved camp where youngsters can spend several weeks learning all the ins and outs of theatrical productions, from big blowout extravagant musical numbers to behind-the-curtain technicalities. The camps two lead instructors are Amos (Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Gordon), Adirondacts lifers who began as campers and became key components of the camp itself. They identify themselves as “performers who are currently instructors”; every summer, they pen an original musical for the campers to perform. Perhaps it’s worth noting that Rebecca-Diane used to crush hard on Amos before he came out as gay, and now they’re the bestest best friends that best friends can be, and I’m sure nothing will ever ever corrupt that until the final act of this movie.

Our first major dramatic development occurs during a production of Bye Bye Birdie, when a strobe light prompts Joan to experience a seizure and fall into a coma. But the documentary filmmakers forge ahead anyway, and so does Adirondacts, now under the leadership of Joan’s son Troy (Jimmy Tatro), a fellow best described as a brofluencer, which is funny because he’s a moron and also an influencer, and you can never tell if influencers are making money or just broke egomaniacs, or if they’re good at doing anything at all. Troy calls himself a “business vlogger” engaging in “enTroypreneurship” and therefore takes it upon himself to fire most of the camp staff in an attempt to prevent foreclosure of the property. Even with Joan, the place is financially tenuous; without her, it’s especially vulnerable to potential corporate takeover by the neighboring camp for shitty rich kids, which is apparently run by a hedge fund. 

This year, Amos and Rebecca-Diane will be staging Joan, Still, a musical-biographical tribute to their comatose leader. A title card tells us they haven’t actually begun writing it yet, and then another title card tells us there’s three weeks until the play will be performed on parents’ night – so, hey, pressure’s on. The ensuing events include: Hiring some new goofball instructors (Edebiri, Nathan Lee Graham). Power outages. Rebecca-Diane using her powers as a self-proclaimed medium to attempt to contact Joan’s spirit. Meryl Day (as in Streep, of course). Catching a kid using tear sticks, which is “doping for actors.” A mixer with the shitty rich kids. Rebecca-Diane sneaking off to do something secret while Amos picks up the slack with Joan, Still. Will the show go on in spite of all the hurdles, speed bumps and miscellaneous boondoggles? It always does, doesn’t it?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This is as good a place as any to reiterate how creatively lucrative the years 2000-2006 were for Guest: He produced Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration during that span, a time when the mockumentary was at its peak.

Performance Worth Watching: The cast here is across-the-board solid, although nobody truly gives a tour-de-force or steals scenes. I guess Edibiri makes the most of her limited screen time, playing a self-proclaimed expert in stage combat (so many of these characters are self-proclaimed experts of their crafts). And as Rebecca-Diane, Gordon couldn’t get any more, you know, Rebecca-Diane.

Memorable Dialogue: The film’s biggest laugh stems from a title card that reads, “It was the first Bye Bye Birdie-related injury in the history of Passaic County.”

Sex and Skin: None. 

Our Take: Theater Camp doesn’t prioritize character or plot; its main goal is to poke elbows in the ribs of a nichey culture. Jokes take precedence over all else, and the percentage of those that hit depends wholly on how been-there/done-that its audience is with audition follies and out-of-control smoke machines. That leaves us outsiders hanging on to a let’s-put-on-a-show plot that sets up easy heroes (camp devotees) against an easy villain (a hedge-fund assassin played by Patti Harrison, who was damn great in the grossly underrated Together Together), and if the core idea of yet another mockumentary – especially a somewhat half-assed one like this – isn’t inspired, its execution elevates it to an amusing-but-not-hilarious realm. 

The movie’s method of loosely stringing together bits renders it ragged around the edges, but it’s ultimately functional. By that token, criticism in such a context is most efficacious when pointing out the bits that do and don’t work: Graham is funny as a costume designer teaching students when to let loose a sexy clavicle; Tatro kind of holds things together, playing the dopey bro who ultimately wants to preserve his mother’s legacy; and the parts of Joan, Still we see during the movie’s climax are potently farcical, and make up for the sometimes bromidic manner in which said payoff was set up. Less effective: The characters’ poker-faced seriousness in the face of their ridiculous ideas and mannerisms delves into simplistic caricature; Platt doesn’t muster enough comic charisma in a key role; and there’s simply too many characters here for any of them to pull much focus. 

There’s also the nagging feeling that the film should be more about the theater-kid experience, but the young cast members are nudged aside for the shenanigans of more recognizable faces, likely so the film doesn’t go so far up its own ass that it alienates viewers. Those who identify with misfit theater kids are more likely to tap into Theater Camp’s warm and gooey center, which isn’t as accessible to those of us who edited the yearbook or, gulp, played baseball. I guess you kinda had to be there.

Our Call: Theater Camp will find the most traction with in-the-know audiences, but there’s just enough of a twig of an olive branch extended for the rest of us to yield a few laughs from the premise. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.