Camp
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Movie Reviews of Camp
Movie Review: I love this movie
Summary: 5 Stars
The music's fantastic and the movie itself is just plain fun.Movie Review: A must see...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great movie and you can't go wrong in buying it!!!Movie Review: Amazin
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best movie I have ever seen.Movie Review: "All I've ever wanted to do is act!"
Summary: 4 Stars
Camp is like a down market, low-budget Fame for youngsters. This doesn't mean that the movie is bad - far from it, Camp sings with the vibrancy of life perhaps even more than its "famed" predecessor, and the film's notions of acceptance, tolerance, and integration, while nothing new, are as relevant today as they have ever been. Perhaps then, the movie could be forgiven for its flaws because, in many respects, Camp is a real gem and is a great example of a film that should be shown in schools across the county.
"Camp" stands for Camp Ovation, a camp for musically adept teens with a penchant for theatre and music. For two months of the year they get together under a music director and combine their talents to create a new show every couple of weeks, and in doing so learn to work together in tolerance and harmony. The shows range from Shakespeare to tap routines, to Broadway shows, to sassy dance numbers. Each gets a chance to shine in an environment of acceptance where no one, especially the boys, is labeled as sissy "freaks."
The film centers on the straight character of Vlad (played by the cute Daniel Letterle). Vlad is a singer and wanna-be actor; he's also drop-dead-sexy and he knows it. Aching to be the center of attention and "liked" by all and sundry, he lifts his shirt every chance he can get, and uses his masculine wiles to manipulate his fellow students at each opportunity. Everyone seems to have a crush on him, including latino drag queen Michael (a marvelous Robin de Jesus), prudish but lovely Ellen (Joanna Chilcoat), nasty queen bee Jill (Alana Allen), and sultry, sassy Dee (Sasha Allen).
Vlad is new to the school, one of the only straight guys, and he has fun making new friends and encouraging his colleagues to follow their dreams. He even gets Bert (Don Dixon), a washed up alcoholic and composer, who initially berates the kids as untalented hicks, to eventually join in on the singing, dancing, and musical merriment. But Camp Ovation isn't only about Vlad; it's about Michael, who wore a dress to his school prom and was forced to pay the price; it's about Ellen, told by her father when she was eight years old that she was never going to be pretty enough to be an actress; and it's also about the well staged musical numbers.
In Camp, comedy flourishes, glitter is thrown around with an unadulterated abandonment, and the best number by far is Jennifer Holiday's anthem "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from "Dreamgirls. In fact, we're treated to songs from Dreamgirls, Company, and Promises, Promises, among others. The film also features two new songs by composer Michael Gore and lyricist Lynn Ahrens. As the kids belt out these performances with all the enthusiasm they can muster, and while some of them may not be the best singers, you will come to admire and awe their gutsy and show stopping appeal.
It's good to watch a film where the straight boy is upended into the thick of things and is made to feel like he's the outsider for once. Vlad's situation, and how he handles his budding friendship with Michael, makes for some of the best scenes in the film. The Camp kids may mourn the fact that they don't fit in, but they also revel in their differences - they're the "special" ones, the talented ones, even though they may be novices, and just starting out in the business
Camp may not be great film - it's often clunky and badly plotted - but it's passionate, earnest and original, and it's saying that even though you're different, don't worry about it, because here, at least at Camp Ovation there's going to be a place for you. Mike Leonard July 05
Movie Review: Stardust
Summary: 4 Stars
CAMP is a curious mixture of the good and the bad. And when I say bad I mean thunderously awful. The editing of some of the scenes, and the transitions between one scene and the next, are God awful. We saw CAMP over the last few days and I'm still puzzled by some of the director's decisions. I remember seeing his previous movie IN THE BEDROOM with Sissy Spacek and thinking wow, this is pretentious, and I'm glad to see he lightened up a bit with CAMP. How serious could you be with that title anyhow? The strange "camp" aspect of the movie was the plot in which little Fritzie, with her little eyes and bush of brown hair like the girl in WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, tries making herself invaluable to the popular Britney type girl Jill. Fritzie's pretty creepy and after awhile, I started feeling sorry for Jill, even though she's unpleasant and unbelievably cruel, self centered, and sort of a big girl. Plus, Jill proved herself talented enough to shine in the Bacharach-David number IT'S TURKEY LURKEY TIME, if I remember right the song that made Donna McKechnie a star.
By the way it does make you wonder why PROMISES, PROMISES had never been made into a movie! I can't be the only PROMISES fan whose appetite is even more whetted than before after seeing the big office Christmas party scene on film.
Most of all, CAMP is great when Daniel Letterle is on the screen. I didn't want to like him, but I wound up in awe of his talent, his stomach, his acting, even the way that he must be kind of short in real life but in CAMP he walks tall. You can see why all the boys and girls at Camp Ovation love Vlad, even though (as his name suggests) he's rather an emotional vampire. When he and the CAMP gang launch into Victoria Williams' CENTURY PLANT, it's corny all right, but thrilling at the same time, like when Tony struggles up out of his wheelchair to join Neely at the asylum rec room when she sings his great hit, "Come Live With Me," in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. CAMP isn't a great movie by any means, and in many ways a retread of FAME, but it has a heart and nowadays that's saying quite a bit. And it has a star, some great voices, some cute songs and kids singing "Losing My Mind."