Thursday, August 14, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: One for the geeks

Camp's flaws are overcome by charm and vitality

By Mike Prevatt

Camp Ovation--the upstate New York summer theater haven in the movie Camp--seems to have a lot in common with band camp: They're both comprised of melodramatic misfits known for their ambition and insatiable interbreeding. The differences are the source material of the music being celebrated (Sondheim vs. Sousa) and the reasons one might find sanctuary in such an organization. You go to band camp to befriend other band geeks, and you go to Camp Ovation because your gay ass is tired of being beaten by your schoolmates. Oh, and you probably like theater, too.

One Ovation attendee, into neither show tunes nor members of his own gender, is seemingly perfect breeder boy Vlad (Daniel Letterle), who prefers Neil Young to Neil Simon. However, theater serves as his escape not from alienation, but his issues with obsessive-compulsive disorder. "When I act, it's not there," he says.

Vlad is the magnetic, yet complex leading character in a movie about needing to feel loved, someplace where one can both escape to and belong. This allows for some over-earnest moments, but if you can look beyond the hammy moments and script weaknesses, Camp exudes vitality and honesty from beginning to end.

Actor Todd Graff's directorial debut (he also wrote the script, based on his own summer theater camp experiences) is reminiscent of the musical Rent, which also features a young, multicultural and gay-friendly bunch of social rejects finding solace in music, humor, each other and the idea of carpe diem. Like Jonathan Larson's Tony Award-winning show, Camp suffers from occasional preciousness, though unlike Rent, it stems from a talent-show formula linked to '80s teen cinema (Fame, Breakin' 2).

Thankfully, where Camp breaks from tradition is its frankness and hilarity in presenting the sensitive material: homophobia, teenage sex, gender roles and identity. During adolescence, you can never try too hard, and in these kids' efforts in finding love and acceptance, much is revealed about their bruised and still-forming psyches. As they conquer each obstacle, you cheer them on--literally. At one screening, the audience applauded after certain performances, especially that of Jenna (Tiffany Taylor), whose "Here's Where I Stand" number is one of the film's most empowering moments.

There isn't so much a story as there is a bunch of overlapping subplots. Ellen (Joanna Chilcoat), is the group's plain Jane. Michael (Robin de Jesus) likes to dress as a woman. Jenna has to have her mouth wired shut, so she won't overeat. And Vlad stumbles as he tries to save everyone--including down-and-out songwriter Bert Hanley (Don Dixon), the guest instructor whose cynicism and alcoholism threatens to ruin the camp's final production.

Graff works his way toward that finale while juggling the various pairings and scenarios, from Michael's crush on Vlad, to Vlad's sympathetic attraction to Ellen. He goes to dramatic extremes in some cases; toward the end, he struggles with which plotlines he wants to resolve. But it never feels disingenuous or apathetic. Camp can be as awkward as the lives it depicts, but it's when those lives come together that give this lively flick its charm.