We watched WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER a little ways ago, picture that somehow slipped by me in 2001. It pretends to be one of those coming-of-age-at-camp movies but it is really a send-up of the genre. It's set in a 1981 that still mysteriously has short-shorts, headbands, Skylab and all the other accoutrements of the '70's. (I guess the 70's lingered in Maine, like spring snow?)
It's now what you'd call a great movie or even a good movie, but it is a string of really funny scenes and skits. Something like KNOCKED UP, I guess. There were slow bits but where I was laughing, I was laughing hard.
Janeane Garofalo was herself, which is always good. One gets the impression she is probably a pretty down-to-earth person even if she is an actress. When an actor plays a million different people, they're probably a piece of work as a friend; when they keep playing the same person and that's a pretty okay person, I'm guessing they're pretty okay. Actors can only play parts they can find within themselves.
I was thinking of this movie just this morning. It's so full of funny bits, it's more memorable than a slapdash movie with no real plot deserves to be. I don't remember it being a big hit, but people seem to have fond memories of it.
I guess the moral of the story is that you can sometimes get away on sheer verve and amiability. WAYNE'S WORLD wasn't what you'd call a masterpiece the way AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY was. It was just a bunch of goofy skits strung together on the thinnest of plots. But it was fun to go there and hang out.
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I've been on a kick of watching DVDs that have commentary tracks by writers (or showrunners) instead of by the directors (both TV and features). Hearing writers break down their thought process as I watch the show is pretty invaluable. DVDs of Joss shows are a good source of this... Have you done DVD commentary as a writer? Any others you'd recommend?
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