Happy Campers (2001)

HAPPY CAMPERS (2001)

Dir: Daniel Waters

Wich-I-Ta, you dreamy b*stard, you. There was a time when Daniel Waters believed the perfect director for his first hit screenplay Heathers (1988) was Stanley Kubrick. I don’t know what kind of crazy you have to be to think that. I can’t even begin to fathom Kubrick’s Heathers. “Heather, baby, light of my life, f*ck me gently with a chainsaw.” By his own right, Waters is a fantastic screenwriter. While his output slowed down after the release of Happy Campers, just look at what came before it. Waters wrote Heathers, The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), Batman Returns (1992), and Demolition Man (1993). While the Andrew Dice Clay and Bruce Willis films may not be those career hits, I’ve always held a soft spot for each of them. Hudson Hawk is a goddamn comedy classic.

Waters finally directs one of his scripts, and we get a strange story about sex at a summer camp. And while that may not seem that significant on the surface, he was able to cast the likes of Brad Renfro, Dominique Swain, Jamie King, and Justin Long. They act their hearts out with Waters’ material. The basic premise is what you would assume a Meatballs sequel would cook up. The bad boy of the camp and the goodie-two-shoes female councilor start out hating each other and it becomes a will they, won’t they story. But, there are messages of rebellion strewn throughout the script that provide the film’s PSA. How do you know yourself, if you’ve never rebelled against who you’ve always been? There’s also a bunch of sex jokes, Justin Long being overly nervous at every moment, and the atmosphere of summer freedom.

There are a few gay jokes that don’t age well, some sexism, as well as an all white cast lacking any diversity, but it continues to have its charms. There’s a moment I’ve always loved. Everyone in the camp is hooking up with someone. The only gay character finds one of the camp staff and tells Justin Long, “He’s the only thing on the menu I’m allowed to eat.” It is a line that has stuck with me for years. I always loved Jasper (Keram Malicki-Sanchez). He was proud of who he was from the beginning of the film to the film’s end.