Theater Camp: Movie Review

Cast: Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Jimmy Tatro, Noah Galvin, Ayo Edebiri
Director: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman

At times feeling like an anarchic episode of Glee, Theater Camp's mix of mockumentary and neuroses channels a great deal of Christopher Guest-style improving as directors Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman extend out their original short film.

When the founder of a New York theatre stage camp collapses into a coma after one strobe light too many at Bye Bye Birdie, the staff of AdirondACTS must band together to pull through one more summer of tutoring. 

With vlogger Troy (Tatro) at the helm of the business, things look to be going disastrously for the camp's future - is this the final curtain?

There's plenty in Theater Camp which offers scrappy laughs a-plenty every 30 seconds or so.

Whether it's the high performing needs of the tutors, or the sweet ineptitude of Troy's desire to help, Theater Camp's mockumentary stylings, complete with sardonic inserted title cards, proves to be an amusing look at the world of the arts.

Granted, those who're blessed with jazz hands will get a great deal from the snarky one-liners and the catty comments from the tutors about their wannabe proteges, but that's not to say Theater Camp isn't inclusive to all-comers.

But it's not perfect.

After a blistering opening act though, Theater Camp suffers a bit of a second act slump before pulling it all together for a rousing finale. It's perhaps indicative how energetic and frenetic the opening is and how the gags are fired out.

In parts, some of the characters are one-note and their arcs feel a little rushed or left withering on the vine - Gordon and Platt are the stars as the teachers whose years-old bond is rattled and whose journey feels the most complete.

However, this mix of precocious children, catty tutors and inept YouTubers has a chaotic energy throughout and with genuinely laugh-out loud oneliners sprinkled generously throughout, the genial Theater Camp's 90 minutes flies by as a solidly amusing addition to the pantheon of mockumentary workplace comedies.