"Theater Camp" gently mocks theater geeks with affection

Theater Camp (2023)

Theater kids will feel seen throughout “Theater Camp,” a scrappy mockumentary influenced by the 2003 indie “Camp” (which co-starred a then-unknown Anna Kendrick slaying “The Ladies Who Lunch”). Written by Noah Galvin & Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman & Ben Platt and directed by Gordon and Lieberman, this is a true labor of love (based on a short Lieberman made in 2020) that takes a gently mocking but very affectionate approach to theater geeks.

Gordon and Platt play codependent pals Rebecca-Diane and Amos, who take their craft in drama and music quite seriously. They’re dedicated teachers at AdirondACTS, a performing arts summer camp in upstate New York. Before the summer session even begins, the camp’s founder, Joan (Amy Sedaris), suffers a seizure from a strobe-light sequence during a performance of “Bye Bye Birdie” and falls into a coma. Stepping in for Joan is her idiot son Troy (an endearing Jimmy Tatro), a crypto bro/aspiring entrepreneur who hasn’t a clue what he’s doing. While Troy faces foreclosure on the camp and predatory advances by a representative (Patti Harrison) with the ritzier next-door Camp Lakeview, Rebecca-Diane and Amos only have four weeks to actually write, rehearse, and perform their original musical “Joan, Still” as a tribute to their beloved comatose leader. The drama!

As an ode to the arts, “Theater Camp” is joyous and often laugh-out-loud funny, from quotable lines of dialogue to the many title cards for the faux documentary. By opening their film with camcorder footage of them performing at young ages, this collective knows this specific world where kids can be themselves and be around like-minded people. Their film is crammed with so many delightfully strange characters and clever details, most of them rooted in a recognizable reality, that no one could ever question that these thespians have lived it and seen it all. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com.

Grade: B

Searchlight Pictures released "Theater Camp" (92 min.) in theaters on July 28, 2023.