In this episode, Mike goes into a nostalgia-filled journey as he shares his Top 5 Movies that take place in the Summer. The topic was inspired after seeing Theater Camp which serves this week’s spoiler-free movie review with Mike and Kelsey. The PG-13 rated comedy is about the lives of staff members of an upstate New York theatre camp who must band together when their beloved founder falls into a coma. Mike and Kelsey give their thoughts on the cast, how the humor landed, theater kids and their experiences with summer camp. In this edition of Trailer Park, Movie Mike talks about the R-Rated comedy Bottoms which is about Two unpopular high school students that start a fight club in order to hook up before graduation. He also shares his thoughts on the return of the R-Rated comedy and the theory that Marvel killed the success of comedy movies at the box-office.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. Two
words that we'll cover in this week's episode as the
theme summer and comedy. I want to share with you
my top five movies that take place in the summer,
all inspired by this week's movie review, where Kelsey will
be hopping in later to talk about the new comedy
theater Camp and then at the trailer park, we're keeping
(00:20):
the comedy train going and we're gonna talk about a
new movie coming out this year called Bottom. So thank
you for being here, Thank you for being subscribed and
listening every single week. Shout out to the Monday Morning
movie crew. He Now, let's talk movies.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast,
one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like
never before in a movie podcast. A man with so
much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMTB with glasses.
From the Nashville Podcast Network. This is Movie Mike's Movie Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
There is something special about a movie that takes place
in the summer because as a kid growing up, I think,
like everybody, it was my favorite time of the year,
no school, no rules, swimming pools, lakes and Tuna Fish Stand,
which is that was summer to me, and I love
movies that can capture that feeling of the season. So
I want to share with you my top five films
(01:20):
that take place in the summer. As we're kind of
winding down the summertime, as kids are going back to school,
and even now as an adult, seeing that back to
school display come up at Walmart or Target, it just
gives me a sad feeling even though it's been a
very long time since I've had to go to grade school.
But as this summer comes to an end, even though
it doesn't feel like it because it's still a billion
(01:41):
degrees outside, I want to share with you some movies
that can keep summer going forever for you. Because the
thing they don't tell you as a kid is that
when you're an adult, you will miss every single summer
because it doesn't stop. So what I do is I
go back and watch movies that I watch as a
kid that had summer in them and make me feel
like I have no responsibilities and make me feel like
(02:02):
a kid again. So the rules for this list in
this top five is these movies will simply they must
take place in the summer. But not only that, the
storyline has to be very specific to summer, therefore could
only take place in the months of June, July, or August.
It has to play a pivotal part in the entire plot.
(02:22):
It's not just the story that happens to be during
the summer. It can only exist because it happens in
the summer. How many times am I going to say
summer in this episode? Basically, the movie has to embody summer.
It doesn't mean that these movies had to be released
in the summer, because a lot of them weren't, but
they are all great summer movies that have stood the
test of time. So these have been movies that I've
(02:43):
been watching since I was a kid, and I feel
that everybody should watch at least once to give them
that summer feeling. So let's kick off this list with
number five from nineteen seventy five. The movie is Jaws,
one of the best horror films of all time. And
the reason I feel that this movie embody summer is
because it's about a great white shark named Jaws. This
(03:04):
beach town is in distress, but it is a quintessential
summer film, not only because it takes place at summer,
It takes place at a beach, and it has made
basically everybody afraid to go out into the open water
with the fear of Jaws creeping up underneath you. That
I feel like when this movie came out in the seventies,
it was so terrorizing to so many people, and the
(03:27):
movie has to the test of time and stand the
test of time. It has. It is a movie that
gets screened every single summer, and I love places that
do these screenings out on the water to Jaws, because
there is just something eerie feeling that even if you're
in a lake and watching a screening of Jaws, something
in the back of your head still has this fear of, oh, man,
(03:47):
there could actually be a shark in here. But aside
from it just being a movie that embodies summer, and
the reason that big summer blockbusters are a thing is
because of Jaws. This was that first big blockbuster because
before Jaws, the summer season at the movie theater was
not what it is today. You wouldn't put your best
movies out in the summer. Everybody was doing other things.
(04:10):
They were going out on vacation and living life. But
after Jaws, came out in the summer of seventy five
and proved to be such a big success. This is
when all the movie studios thought, well, if Jaws could
have success doing this, let's put all our biggest properties
out during the summer. Therefore, the summer blockbuster was born,
which is now my favorite time of the year. And
(04:32):
I think we've been having a pretty great one so
far in twenty twenty three. So for all those reasons,
I put Jaws at number five. At number four, I
thought a long time about this, and I try to
think of movies that have really stood the test of
time for me and have really been influential on my life,
and I throw away all of that critical acclaim and
(04:52):
all the reasons that movies should make a top five list,
and thought about movies that really mean a lot to me.
And a movie for me that embodies summer, that embodies
my early even preteen years, is a movie that came
out in two thousand and one, and number four I
have American Pie two. I would argue that this is
one of the best comedic sequels of all time, because
(05:16):
you can look throughout history whenever you have a hit comedy,
the idea is let's do that same movie again, but worse.
There are very few times where a sequel to a
comedy comes out and it is better than the first one.
And oftentimes in the nineties, you just wouldn't get a
sequel because why even touch it. It was gonna go
(05:36):
straight to video. And really, the only movie that comes
to mind, which I know somebody will message me and say,
you forgot about this movie or you forgot about that movie.
But when I think of all the great comedies I've
seen in my life and have been anticipating a sequel to,
the only one that has met my expectations and I
would argue is better than the original movie is American
(05:57):
Pie Too, because the first one took place in high
school and American Pie two takes place a year after that,
their first summer away from college, getting all back together.
They've all had these different life experiences, meeting different people.
The guys were in a beach house and val to
make this the best summer ever. So you have that
same cast playing those same great characters that I really
(06:20):
felt an odd connection to. And I think it's because
when that first movie came out, I was very impressionable,
and I probably shouldn't have watched American Pie in nineteen
ninety nine because I was eight years old, But for
some reason, it was probably because I thought these characters
were so cool and I thought when I go to
high school, I want to be like them. That I
was never so invested in a cast of characters that
(06:43):
I needed to know what are they up to now?
What is it going to be like when they all
get together again and start hanging out? And I think
that is something that was so essential to all these
raunchy teen comedies in the late nineties and early two thousands,
that there were just really great, well written, fleshed out characters.
There hasn't been an attention to detail on character development
(07:06):
and comedies. Therefore you get a lot of flat characters
that nobody cares about, and all anybody can argue about
is these movies aren't funny anymore. We have to start
at the basics. Look at what American Pie did. Even
though every sequel that came after, with the reunion and
the Wedding, maybe they didn't hold up to all of
the standards that the first and second one did, but
(07:26):
they were still characters you were invested in. And I
remember seeing this movie and instantly being sucked in from
that very first opening scene. This is the only movie
I can really remember that I know the very first
song from the soundtrack. The movie opens up with the
universal logo, and this song called every Time I Look
for You by Blink within eighty two plays and that
(07:47):
is a movie moment embedded in my head. And that's
all I'm going to play before I go to podcast jail.
But just looking at the soundtrack of this movie, it
is very much a reflection of my musical taste. You
have that song by Blink n eighty two. You also
have some forty one both fat lip and into deep
songs like Flavor of the Week by American Hi Fi,
(08:09):
hash Pipe by Weezer, Hit or Miss by Newfound Glory.
You have the offspring all of these late nineties early
two thousands bands that are essentially the very first developments
of my musical taste, all on one soundtrack. That's another
thing that has really gone away is a real curation
of a movie soundtrack. I used to love soundtracks, and
(08:31):
I guess a lot of that was due to back
in the day they would actually come out on CD
that would really you make a movie to have a
great soundtrack, but now I feel like maybe sometimes you
only get one song by one big artist to go
along with a movie. But just by looking at the
movie soundtrack, these are all still songs I still listen
to today and it would probably put on my running playlist.
(08:54):
I also love the story development in this movie of
once they all get together for they realize that everybody
has changed and things weren't the way they were in
high school. And I felt like that was a really
great thing for me to learn early on. Even at
the time that this movie came out, I was probably
in sixth grade. I just knew that this was gonna
be something I needed to learn now. So this is
(09:16):
a great sequel, one of my favorite comedic sequels of
all time, and my fourth favorite movie that takes place
in summer. I'm going with American Pie Too at number
three from nineteen ninety three. It is the One, the Only,
the Great Hambino the Sandlot. The movie takes place in
(09:38):
the summer of nineteen sixty two. It's about a kid
named Smalls who gets taken under the wing a young
baseball prodigy known as Benny the Jet Rodriguez and his
rowdy team that plays baseball every single summer in this
Sandla and boy, they have a lot of fun doing this.
And as a kid, I was terrible at every single sport.
(10:01):
I was also terrible at having friends. And I would
watch this movie and think, Man, I wish I could
live in a town like that where you had a
bunch of kids who got together every single summer to
play a sport they loved. Even though everybody on the
team wasn't destined for greatness like Benny that Jet Rodriguez,
it was still like, oh, man, I would just love
(10:21):
to have a perfect summer like that. And this movie
is an embodiment of all the things that come along
with summer. Of course, it revolves around them playing baseball,
but then you get the life stuff too, like them
all going to the community pool and one of the
best comedic scenes of the nineties of Squints weaseling away
(10:42):
to get a kiss from Wendy Peppercorn. And then you
also get the iconic scene of them going to the
fair and taking that big Chief dip, putting it in
their mouths and getting sick to their stomach and vomiting
all on that carnival ride. But hands down the best
scene in this movie that embodies summer is the fourth
(11:03):
of July night game scene where they have just enough
light to play a game of baseball because all of
the light given off from all the fireworks going off
in the sky with each firework that illuminates the sky,
giving them just enough visual to see the ball and
to run the bases. And what I love about the
scene is the foreshadowing because as they are playing their game,
(11:27):
all the kids get distracted by the fireworks because it's
forth of July. That's what you look forward to as
a kid, seeing all the fireworks go up in the sky,
seeing which ones make the biggest explosion, seeing which ones
that are a little underwhelming. And as all the kids
are getting distracted and forget about the game they're playing
because they're looking at all the fireworks in the sky,
(11:47):
you see Benny the jet Rodriguez not even taking a
second look at the sky. He is continuing to run
the bases after hitting the ball, showing you in that
moment the foreshadowing that he is going to be the
only one to go on to the major leagues because
he is taking it that seriously. He doesn't even feel
like a kid in that moment because he is so
(12:08):
focused on the game, so focused on getting better, that
he doesn't care about the fact that there is four
the July fireworks going on and he just continues to
run the basis. So that is one of my favorite
scenes and one of the best summertime scenes of all time.
So that is why I put the Sandlot at number three.
At number two is a movie from two thousand and
(12:31):
nine calls Adventureland. Two thousand and nine is one of
my favorite years in entertainment, whether it be movies, music,
video games. It's a year that I just associate with
a lot of good things coming out in two thousand
and nine. It was also the year I graduated high school,
so I felt like it was a very formative year
for a lot of what would go on to be
(12:51):
my taste in college and even now. But two thousand
and nine's adventure Land, I feel as a movie a
lot of people missed out on, and I think that's
greatly due to the marketing. I feel like they didn't
know how to sell this movie with the trailer and
all the promotional materials that were a lot more focused
on who was in the movie rather than what the
(13:12):
movie was about because it has a pretty stat cast,
especially for two thousand and nine, very much a snapshot
of what was going on in this year. In the
two thousand you have Jesse Eisenberg, Kristin Stewart, Ryan Reynolds,
Kristin Wig, Bill Hayter, and also Martin Starr, who I
loved in Freaks and Geeks, and he's also been in
(13:33):
the MCU Spider Man franchise. But despite coming out in
two thousand and nine, the movie actually takes place in
the summer of nineteen eighty seven. Jesse Eisenberg plays a
college graduate whose life really hasn't gone the way he
had planned. He had all of these big visions moving
to the big city, starting a company, and doing all
these really grand things in his life, and then it
(13:55):
just kind of resorts to him moving back home and
taking this job at a local amusement park where you
just go if you really can't get a job anywhere else.
But that job at that amusement park ends up being
more beneficial to him in his life than college ever was.
This movie is also from the director of super Bad,
but I feel like it's a little bit more of
(14:15):
a sophisticated comedy than super Bad is, where that's a
little bit more wacky and over the top. I feel
like maybe that's the reason this movie didn't have as
big a success as a super Bad, because maybe you
go into this thinking, Oh, it's gonna be a movie
that's really hilarious and funny, and all these funny people
are in it. Therefore it's gonna be just like super Bad.
It's not really like that at all. It's more of
(14:37):
a little slice of life movie with some comedic elements,
but really just goes on much more of an emotional
roller coaster, no pun intended, than you would expect, And
I think that is why I ended up loving this
movie so much. It also does one of the best
jobs of incorporating the soundtrack into the movie, has one
of my favorite uses of a song in a movie
(14:57):
of all time. Since the movie takes place in the eighties,
obviously has a lot of eighties music. My favorite eighties
band of all time is The Cure. My favorite song
of theirs is just Like Heaven. And there's a scene
in this movie where Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart's character
have this special moment writing these bumper cars and this
song plays over the top, and it's one of my
(15:22):
favorite scenes in any movie from the two thousand. So
I've been saying that all episode long because there are
these scenes that just stick with me throughout my life
and make me want to go back and experience summer
like this, And so I would say this movie greatly
reflects what summer I wish I would have had at
this point in my life. So that's why I put
(15:42):
this movie at number two, because if I could only
pick one summer to have from a movie, it would
be my number one pick, but this would definitely be
my number two pick to have this kind of summer
after going to college and going back home. So at
number two is adventure Land, but at number one the
movie I feel in Body Summer one hundred percent throughout
(16:06):
this entire movie. It is the nineteen ninety five now
cult comedy co written by Judd Apatow. It stars Ben
Stiller as a maniac fitness instructor who terrorizes the kid's
fat camp until the kids overtake the camp. It is Heavyweights,
and I feel like you look at this movie now
and say they couldn't make this movie today. And I
(16:28):
am speaking to you as a former self proclaimed fat kid.
I was overweight my entire life as far back as
I could remember, which caused me to feel like the outcast.
I was bullied, picked on, made fun of, and even
now as an adult, sometimes I just revert back to
that same kid who was in third grade and thinking that, man,
(16:51):
life is never really going to get any better than this.
I'm always going to be the overweight kid. And it
wasn't until I was exposed to this movie where it
actually didn't have a whole lot of success in theaters.
Disney didn't know what to do with this movie. It
was a live action movie that didn't really fit the
Disney brand, so they didn't really shelf it. But kind
(17:12):
of like what I was saying with that Ventureland, they
didn't really know how to promote this movie, and Ben
Stiller didn't even want to be used in the promotional
material for this movie. He asked for his image not
to be included in the poster or the trailer. So
that was a big hit to this movie. You take
your biggest star of the movie and can't use him
(17:33):
when selling this movie. The original trailer was a bit
of a mess and didn't really give you what this
movie was about. And as I was saying, you think, oh,
you couldn't make this movie today. But I don't really
look at it this way. I don't really think this
movie was made with the intention of making fun of
overweight kids. And this is coming as somebody who was
(17:54):
overweight their entire life until they made the decision to
get healthy. And something that I struggle with a lot was,
you know, getting made fun of, and a lot of
times that happens in movies where the overweight character is
the butt of every single joke, and to be completely honest,
you get sick of it. You think, why is somebody
like me always depicted in that way, always as the bozo,
(18:14):
the one messing things up, and never the hero of
the movie. And it wasn't until Heavyweights that I realized, Look,
we can be cool, we can be the stars of movies.
This was the first time I looked at a cast
of a film, looked at the poster, and I saw
kids that look like me and were funny, and you
(18:35):
were able to see that, Oh, they're just regular people
and we should be telling more stories like this. So
I don't look at this movie thinking, ah, they were
awful for making fun of overweight kids. No, I look
at this movie as yes, we have our movie. We
are able to tell our story, we are able to
take our stance and be proud of who we are
because the roles are really reversed in Heavyweights, where all
(18:58):
of these kids are the and the skinny ones are
the losers and the lame os and the jerks. So
I am so glad that this movie exists. You can
watch it still on Disney Plus. And if there was
one summer I could live out from any movie, it
would hands down be Heavyweights. And I haven't really seen
(19:18):
a movie made like this until well. I watched Theater
Camp this past weekend, and I'll get into my full
review during that part of this episode. But this is
hands down the best movie to ever take place in
the summer. My number one pick goes to Heavyweights. I
do have a lot of honorable mentions. Almost sneaking into
(19:40):
my top five was The Parent Trap, which is a
great movie. I almost put it above Jaws, but I
guess since the fact that it was a remake made
me think, let's put an original in the top five.
But of course that story takes place because of the
switcher Rud that happens at summer camp. Also almost making
my top five was We're the Millers from twenty thirteen,
(20:00):
which all takes place over the Fourth of July weekend.
I feel like that's another great comedy that doesn't get
enough attention. You also have the Lizzie McGuire movie from
two thousand and three, which took place right after they
graduated middle school and it was their summer in Rome.
Summer of two thousand and three was very significant for
me because of the Lizzie McGuire movie. I also almost
(20:21):
threw a different horror movie in my list, I Know
What You Did Last Summer from nineteen ninety seven. So
close would have been Independence There from nineteen ninety six,
one of the best sci fi action movies of the nineties.
You also have movies like Daste and Confused from ninety three,
My Girl from ninety one, or even Friday the Thirteenth
from nineteenth eighty. What I really think is lacking from
(20:42):
this list is a superhero movie, which leads me to
my next point. I have an idea for a movie
about a superhero that gains their powers on the last
day of school. I've had a lot of ideas for
superhero movies where I feel like people are saying, ah,
(21:03):
every superhero movie has been done and it's becoming a
little stale. I just think the formula needs to be
switched up a little bit, and we need to stop
making origin stories that are all completely the same, trying
to build another Avengers, whether it be in the MCU
or in DC. We just need to make great solo
movies that stand on their own. So my idea for
(21:24):
a movie, going along with our theme of the best
summer movies, is about a character who gets their powers
on the last day of school. And they have been
somebody who hasn't had a whole lot of friends, has
struggled the entire year, and they look forward to the
last day of school because that means, Okay, now I
just get to spend my time in my room and
do what I want and not be bothered by bullies
(21:46):
and not have to deal with schoolwork. But then that
last day of school, somehow they encounter their superhero powers.
And what you always see in superhero movies is somebody
discovers their powers and they have that whole time of like, oh,
what do I do Now? I got to be a superhero?
And eventually they do become a superhero. But I want
a story about a reluctant superhero, somebody that gets powers
(22:09):
and doesn't want them. They're kind of a nerdier, more
introverted person. So what would happen if a person like
that got superhero powers and thought, I'm not going to
do anything with this. I'm not telling anybody, and I'm
also not going to fight crime because just interacting with
people scares the crab out of me. But through the
course of this summer, they realize, oh man, it's actually
(22:29):
kind of my duty now to do good. And it's
them coming out of their shell in a summer, which
I think we all did as kids. The summer felt
like such a big throwing time where people were so
different on the last day of school versus the first
day of the next year, where somebody's gotten taller, somebody
has gone on a specific trip that has changed their
perspective on things, and everybody grew so much every summer
(22:53):
in middle school and in high school that I feel
like that should be represented through a superhero of somebody
who is very nerdy, timid inside their own thoughts. But
then at the end of the summer, they have had
all these adventures of becoming a superhero, but as soon
as that first day of school hits, they kind of
go back into hiding and they're not a superhero anymore
(23:15):
until the next summer kicks off and they go back
into superhero mode. So that is all right, we'll come back.
Kelsey is hopping in. We're gonna give our movie review
of Theater Camp, and then I'll also talk about a
new comedy called Bottoms. I'm gonna get into a spoiler
(23:37):
free movie review. I'm joined now by my wife and
co host Kelsey. How are you.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I'm good. I just feel like disproportionately low.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
We're here, Arlo Low. You're in the director's chair.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I need to work on my posture anyways.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see the
difference in our chairs. So we're about to talk about
Theater Camp, which before we get into what this movie
is about, I want to talk about our theater experience.
This is a movie we went to go watch at
our local community theater, nonprofit theater called the Bellcourt in Nashville.
And if you ever get a chance to visit Nashville,
and obviously because you listen to this podcast. You're a
(24:08):
big movie fan, I highly recommend you check out The Bellcourt.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Wouldn't you say I love the Bell Court. It's I mean,
they only have like three screens, but the snack selection
is great, is incredible and truly great.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I just love supporting an independent theater because it feels
like they care more about you.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, and they show a lot of movies that we
wouldn't be able to see a lot of.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
And a lot of foreign films, a lot of lower
budget movies like theater Camp. So, whether it be The
Bell Court, if you're in Nashville or any just local
theater that you can go support somebody who feels like
it actually matters to them that you were there. I
would say go and support them and watch movies like
theater camps. So this movie is about a struggling summer
(24:49):
camp for theater kids. Their founder is trying to raise
money to get a bunch of kids the ability to
be able to go to this camp, and right at
the start of it, she gets put into a coma
yes and yes. So then her son has to come
and run the camp, and then all the other people
who work at the camp are trying to let her
(25:10):
legacy live on.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
She's not dead, she's not dead to living on. It's
just still living.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
But they are trying to honor her through a new
play called Joan Still it is. It's a ridiculous plot
when you think about it. The whole premise of this
movie is ridiculous, but the entire thing plays out so well.
So going back to our theater experience, we watched this
in a movie theater that only holds thirty four people.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah, it is the screening Room and Court.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
And it was sold out. So the first thing was
I felt a little bit claustrophobic, Yes, that we were
in the third row.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
There's smaller rows and there's only one entrance on the side,
so you can't It's not like a bigger theater where
you can go up the stairs and go to both sides.
It's like you walk in, then you have to go
down the stairs and there's two rows behind the projector
and then three rows in front of the projector.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And I kind of felt like when either a dog
or a cat has like a bunch of people over
that they don't know, and they immediately go into like
survival mode, like what is happened? That's how I felt
so much so that I asked for us to move
from that seat to the very front row. Like with
everybody coming in the row, I just felt like they
were gonna be walking up throughout the entire movie, like
coming back out, and it was gonna be.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
A pain, which I mean, I'm an ale girl. I
don't like to walk over people. I don't mind when
people have to step in front of me, but I
know that I'm gonna have to get up at some point,
so it was fine. I mean, the third row in
the first row and that small theater didn't really make
that much difference, but it did kind of feel like
the screen.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
It was like, yeah, that is normally why I'm not
a front row person, but I felt because this theater
room was so small that it wouldn't have had that
big of an impact. I was okay with it. I
like being engulfed in a screen.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
It was a short movie, but I did laugh when
the guy next to us came in with the snacks,
sat down next to his girlfriend and whispered, I don't
think I've ever said this close to a screen in.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
My entire We were very close, but with those thirty
four people filling out this theater. I really feel like
that added to the level of community in this movie.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
It was a sense of camaraderie. We all enjoyed the movie.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
It was a big bonding experience to where I feel
like watching it with that amount of people really made
this movie a lot funnier. It made it more of
an experience. And what I loved about theater camp is
what I always look for in a comedy like this
is how many jokes do they attempt throughout the entire movie,
like the per capita, Like how many are they firing
(27:28):
out hitting on They don't really have to hit on
every joke for me, but the fact that they keep
attempting jokes and throwing things out there that are comedic.
It's not about how many punches you land. It's about
how many attempts you have when it comes to me
in comedy movies, and I feel like throughout this entire
movie it was just one after the other.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
That's a good boxing reference is that because we've been
boxing on the weekends exactly feel like our instructures would
appreciate them.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And the other thing about this movie and about comedies nowadays,
is people say you can't really make a funny movie anymore.
I think with theater camp shows is you can't. You
have to be a little bit more niche when it
comes to making a comedy. And I think that's why
this movie is resonating with so many people, because it's
very much a relatable movie to anybody who did the theater.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I wasn't even a theater kid. I take the back
my starring role in the eighth grade. I was at
a new school. I thought if I joined the play,
I would make friends. Spoiler alert. It didn't work, and
I was in the Hobbit and my only line was
to hiss on stage?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Can you give us a little of that? No?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But I'm not a theater kid either. I aspired to be,
but I wasn't extroverted enough to be a theater kid
like I think personality wise, I was more like I identified
with that, but as far as actually being in plays
and singing in musicals, I was not a theater kid.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You were the theater tech. Orn't.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, I would have been more of the tech in
this movie, But I still feel like it was so
relatable to anybody who was in theater or was around
it and knew about it. Like, I feel like that
is what you have to do to make a comedy
is be a lot more relatable to a very select
group of people, so much so that even like us
who weren't theater kids, you can watch this movie and
(29:05):
really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
It's relatable in the sense that, like if you were
ever a kid that like kind of had a niche
and didn't fit in, Like I was a super nerdy kid,
I could be friends with a lot of people, but
like I was nerdy. I didn't do sports. I was
president of the math club. Like just the hits just
kept coming on, like the nerdiness for me. And I
feel like I could relate to this movie because they're
just they're a bunch of odd balls.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah. And the other thing about it is if you
don't relate to the theater part, maybe you relate to
the camp part. And another thing, I never went to
summer camp. Did you ever go to any summer camps?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
And then you're not missing out on much.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
What kind of summer camp did you go to?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I went to a lot of church camps. Okay, I
broke my wrist at a church camp.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Ah, is that what your wrist is? The way it is.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yeah, did a lot of church camps. I'm trying to
think if I did anything else.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
If you were to go to camp now as an adult,
what kind of camp would you go to. I think
I would want to go to like a space camp
with a high focus on aliens, where you like watch
the skies and try find anything weird. You learn about
UFOs and have like this bonding experience just learning about
alien creatures. I think that would be fun to me.
As a summer camp as an adult anyway, I.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Would like to go to on site here in Nashville
it was just basically a therapy camp. As an adult
therapy camp sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I would actually probably benefit a lot from a therapy camp.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
And they take your phones or really is like summer camp.
The worst part of summer camp was just that you
gave up any modern convenience, Like there was no air.
You're bringing like a clip on fan, everyone smells. They're
sending you to bed at like midnight, and then it's
like up at six point thirty for the next day.
I need my beauty sleep. That is not enough sleep.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Well, you just described where my summer's in Mexico. That
is exactly it. It's hot, people smell you, go to
sleep really late, there's no air conditioning. That is my
summer else. Okay, but maybe I went to summer camp.
It was just Mexico.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
But the food was better in Mexico, was it not?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Oh that's true.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Way, the summer camp food is not good. It's just
a bunch of like teenagers serving you over baked t
lasagna made for four hundred.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I ate a lot of swine in Mexico. But it
was also the result of me getting very sick as
a kid. The sickest I ever got was in Mexico
once summer.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
I told this story before where.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I started hallucinating and I saw a little a little
leprechaun clapping that I was so out of my mind.
And I think that's why now as an adult, I
don't really get sick that often. Because I drank the
water in Mexico, I ate the food, got so sick,
and now I'm like immune to some diseases.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Two thoughts, one little lepre console were redundant. I feel
like you.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
No, it was a little leprechaun. Okay too, his hands.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
That is why you have the immune system of steel.
What's frustrating is you never get sick from me, but
when you get sick, I get sick.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, that is unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
It's very unfortunate. But all right, back to the back
to the movie.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
But you look at the cast in this movie, and
it's a lot of characters that you don't really think
go together, but when you see them all on screen
and all together, so well, so good.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Well, a lot of the people know each other or
like have worked together. Yeah, two of the writers were
Ben Platt, Noah Galvin. They're engaged. And then Molly Gordon
and I feel like Molly Gordon's spend something of Ben
Platt and she was on the Bear she so she
was already knew one of the other characters in the
movie who came in as like a new camp counselor
who lied on her resume and it was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And then Jimmy Tatrow plays the son of Joan in
this movie, who takes over the camp and is trying
to run it. But he's very much like a bro influencer,
want to be like crypto.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Guy, and he's a bitcoin guy.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
And he has no idea how to run the camp.
And I've been a fan of his since like the
YouTube days, like twenty tens. YouTube was so influential on me,
and he's really been like consistently doing things throughout the
twenty tens, so much so that YouTube isn't even his
main focus anymore. Now. He's done a lot of movies.
I think his biggest thing has probably been American Vandal
(32:54):
on Netflix, where a bunch of people like starting to
recognize him. But I feel like he is a person
who's just been grinding for so long now, and I
wouldn't say this is a typical role I would have
expected of him. I see him more like he was
in twenty two Jump Street, but this is I feel like,
more of his wheelhouse. I feel like he is able
(33:15):
to show a lot of the side that he shows
on his YouTube channel in this character. And I feel
like he was my favorite part of this movie.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
He was so good that. And then the girl from
the Bear that's in this who's been in everything.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, Aoa Debrie, who is gonna be in another movie
I'm out to talk about in the next trailer, who
I feel is just in a lot of things right now.
And I kind of feel like there's this new Hollywood
class slowly creeping up in movies and TV.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
She has such a like recognizable face now from all
the things, and then she voiced in Teenage Mutant Ninja
turnle Yes. She was able to be in everything lately.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
And I think she does so well in comedies, and
I feel like, now there is a slight shift on
slowly making a return, which I'll get into more when
I'm talking about bottoms. But this movie really made me
feel that, where throughout this entire movie, everybody in our
theater was laughing. The entire time I was cackling.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
There were just.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Ridiculous moments, the rememberable songs, especially like the finale song.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Camp Isn't Home.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
It was such a great moment in a movie that
I feel like, look, you can make great comedies if
you focus on one specific thing. And it also reminded
me of one of my favorite movies of all time
that I was talking about earlier, Heavyweights. This kind of
felt like that, but instead of a camp for overweight kids,
it was a camp for all these theater kids. Similar struggles.
(34:39):
They have the outcasts, you have the big corporation trying
to take you down, trying to close this camp. So
kind of the same plot lines of the underdogs from
Heavyweights are the underdogs in Theater Camp. So I think
that's also why if you are a fan of movies
about underdog stories, this is a great one for you too.
So anything else I missed about this movie that you loved.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
With seeing some of the funny parts in the trailer,
like there were still laughable moments, because I know that's
kind of a thing. I feel like that happened to
a lot of Melissa McCarthy's movies. Yeah, all the good
jokes where they would show all the good jokes in
the trailer and then you go to the movie and
you're like, I've already seen that, and that's not her fault,
that's just whoever produces the trailers. But I thought that
this movie still made me laugh despite all of the
(35:22):
funny parts, and the funny parts that they showed in
the trailer were what made me want to go see
the movie. Yeah, so it brought me in. But then
they still kept me laughing, and.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I still found myself laughing at the jokes that were
in the trailer because they were still funny in context.
They were funny which rarely happened. So I really loved
this movie. If you had to give theater camp a rating,
what would you give it?
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Four point five out of five tap dances.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Oh, that's good, I think. I think I'm right between
that four and four and a half.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Which would be a four point two five.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah, so I'm gonna go I'm gonna go four point five, okay,
And I think I would give it a four if
I watched it on my own. But I think that
point five is that community experience of watching this movie
with other people and adding to that level of humor.
When you see other people laughing and hear other people laughing,
it makes you want to laugh more.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
It was also a very diverse group, yeah, which was fun.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
And I think that that is how comedy should be
seen now. And it's harder to get people into a
theater to watch a comedy like this, especially with not
a whole lot of marketing. There's no a list star
in this movie.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I would bag that Ben Platts. He's not a list,
but in the theater community, he's a list.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
So like this movie is targeted towards If you were
looking at the target of this movie, which is probably
theater kids and theater lovers, Ben Platt is an a lister,
which we also saw Ben Plat at a restaurant here
one time.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Oh, we did see a meeting. That was one of
those moments where we're pretty good at picking out where people.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
So good at it, and we're like really good at
just kind of like that, just kind of like look
at each other really.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
And sometimes people just look famous and you know, and
you go through your rolodex of like who could that be?
And that was when we were like, ah, that's who
that is. But I feel like it's just pretty chill.
But anyway, Yeah, I give it a four point five
out of five. Throat Coat packets, which was another thing
that was very It was so specific. There's a joke
where it reminded me again of Heavyweights whenever they were
like confiscating all of like the fast food they were
(37:16):
getting in from outside the camp. The joke here is
that they have the throat coat, which is tea that
you drink to help your voice. A lot of performers
use it, and just that joke that I don't really
that's like, yeah that I don't. I don't really identify
with that as far as like knowing what that does
for your voice. But I just love that joke in there.
It was great.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
It was good. I know there's so many other things,
but I don't want to give it all away. But
there's one scene where they're all doing auditions for a plane.
This one kid just sings something out of left field.
Oh yeah, I won't say what it is, but it
just it's Chef's.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Kiss hit me in the heart. But that is our
review of Theater Camp. Anything you want to say before
you go.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Go see it, go see it at your local indie theater.
We love the Bell Court so much we are going
there tonight see a movie.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
So it's time to head down to movie Mike.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Trailer Paul. I want to talk about a new comedy
coming out on August twenty fifth called Bottoms, and it
is an R rated comedy. I know that kids listen
to this podcast, and I'm not about to say any
dirty words, but obviously when talking about an R rated,
raunchy comedy, we'll get into some areas here that maybe
if you're not allowed to watch R rated comedies, this
(38:28):
may not be the trailer park for you. So that
is just my warning going into talking about this movie.
I'm not about to start like cursing and ripping out
a different side of me that you're not used to.
It's just when talking about the premise of this movie,
you get into some adult themes right at the beginning
of this because it is about two unpopular best friends
named PJ and Josie who start a high school fight
club in order to meet girls and lose their v card.
(38:51):
I almost feel like this is a resurgence in a
way of the raunchy two thousand's late nineties comedy that
really ran rampant without having to check themselves in any way.
And sometimes you look back on some of those movies
and think, oo, how are they able to make some
of those Some of those things would not fly today.
But I also feel like back in the day you
(39:12):
weren't able to tell it from this perspective where it
is two girls trying to hook up with other girls,
and it's just a new take on a story that
we're familiar with. And by the looks of this trailer,
it looked like it could be one of the funniest
movies in this genre. So before I get into more
of my thoughts, here's just a little bit of the
Bottoms trailer. I'm gonna expel you both for committing a
(39:34):
crime against Jeff did out of the car. Can't tell
me what to do.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
We were just practicing it for ourself defense club.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
So it's like a fight club.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yes, just stay in your lane until you're latching. Beavert Wesleyan, Yes, sir,
what's your plan here? Jeff's caught it and they're picking
on the week and defenseless. So we teach a bunch
of girls how to defend themselves. They are grateful to us.
Adrenaline is flowing. Next thing you know Isabelle and are
kidding as a mouse. So I feel like now our
(40:04):
rated comedies specifically are making a comeback. They are just
a little bit fewer and further between, and they look
a lot different now. They look like movies like Bottoms,
where you have characters that really haven't been at the
forefront of a movie. And I, for one, feel like
it is so refreshing to not have the same comedy
made over and over again. And I feel like when
(40:26):
we wonder why don't they make movies like super Bad anymore, Well,
it's because you can't keep making the same comedy over
and over and keep getting people to laugh at them.
You have to look at different people from different walks
of life and focus on something completely different, and sometimes
people don't like that. So you want to make the
same comedy over and over again. Okay, but nobody's gonna
(40:49):
watch it. That is why I think everybody should be
taking note of Bottoms and the rise of R rated
comedies has been seen a lot in the last five
years where almost you have to go really really raunchy,
to the point that you're gonna turn some people away
who don't like these type of movies, but the people
who do enjoy them are really going to lean into
(41:09):
it if you go all out. I'm thinking of movies
like Good Boys, even Deadpool, which has changed the way
that we think of superhero movies, and the fact that
it's R rated but also has a lot of comedy
and action throughout. You almost have to give audiences something
a little bit more to chew on, or even movies
like BookSmart that really reinvented what super Bad was but
(41:30):
gave it a different spin, much like Bottoms is doing now.
It's kind of like the American Pie, but through the
perspective of two girls. Even just this year with Jennifer
Lawrence and no hard feelings. You have strays which is
coming out in theaters, or even movies like in twenty
eighteen Game Night, Triangle of Sadness Bros. Or even one
of my favorites, Jackass Forever, or even movies that aren't
(41:51):
just straight ahead comedies like the Banshees of in a Sheeran,
which by no means is a wacky comedy from like
the nineties or two thousands era, but on paper that
movie made me laugh more so than any other straight
ahead comedy in the last three years. So I feel
like now you can't just make the same comedy you've
been making for so long. So you have to have
(42:12):
a great cast, a great director, and a great story.
And I heard Adam Devine talking recently about how Marvel
has ruined the comedy. Adam Divine, who you may know
from Workaholics Mike and Dave need Wedding Dates. He's also
right now on The Righteous Gemstones. He was in Pitch
Perfect one and two. But he was on an episode
of THEO Vaughn's podcast recently saying that he thinks the
(42:33):
reason Marvel has killed the comedy is because we all
go into the movie theater expecting to see something that
looks like it costs two hundred million dollars to make.
And I'm paraphrasing this a bit, but essentially saying that
it feels like you're getting ripped off if you go
and watch a comedy which doesn't have all those same
bellows and whistles like a two hundred million dollar movie would.
(42:54):
So it feels like, why would I pay fifteen dollars
to watch an okay comedy when I could pay those
same fifteen dollars and see something larger than life. I
think there is some truth to that, where it feels
like comedies, romantic comedies, or even some indie dramas or
Oscar Baby movies feel like when you go watch them
in theaters. It's not that you're getting an inferior product.
(43:17):
I just feel like the viewing experience isn't always enhanced
by going to see it in the theater. With some
of those movies, you get a much more enjoyable experience
if you just watch them in the comfort of your
own home. So I feel like you should always have
the decision to watch what you want to watch, how
you want to watch it. I would argue, though, that
(43:39):
some comedies like theater camp we were talking about earlier,
are enhanced by watching them in a crowd only if
they are done correctly and are actually quality comedies. If not,
there is nothing worse than going to see a comedy
in theaters that is not funny and that you want
to walk out of because it is so oh so bad.
(44:02):
And the benefit of watching a bad comedy at home
is you can just turn it off and never think
about it again. So yes, maybe in some aspects our
expectations have changed when going to the movie theater, But
I really think it comes down to the quality of
movies being made in the comedy space, which also has
to do with what studios want to invest in, and
(44:23):
they're not really investing in comedy so much anymore, so
therefore you get kind of an inferior product. So I
don't think it's a direct correlation of superhero movies ruining everything.
I think everybody just always wants to blame Marvel for
ruining the movie industry, when really they have saved it
time and time again getting people back into those seats,
(44:45):
so really they've probably kept it alive in the last decade.
To be honest, you just have to adapt and you
have to give people something a little bit more. He
also went on to say in that interview that you
have to mask it. You have to give it an
action quality, you have to give it a horror quality.
So much like in today's world, where you just can't
be one thing anymore, you gotta do a lot of
(45:07):
things really well to get people's attentions. Or you can
make a movie like Bottoms, where you have all of
those same mechanics and familiarities of the comedies we all
know and love, but give it a unique spin and
have it speak to an audience that hasn't had a
movie like this to represent them. And this trailer was
also played in our theater when we went to go
see Theater Camp. And I've never heard people laugh so
(45:30):
much throughout a trailer of a movie. And I'm hoping
that much like Theater Camp, they didn't show all the
funniest parts in this one. I can't wait to see
it again. The movie is called Bottoms, it's rated R,
and it's coming out on August twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
And that was this week's edition of Movie by Framer
Bar And.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
That's going to do it for another episode here of
the podcast but before I go, I got to give
my listeners shout out, which I do every single week.
This week, I am going over to my Facebook page,
which is Facebook slash Mike cadistro Or. I posted the
question I like to get your opinions on my topics
every single week as well. The question was what is
your favorite movie that takes place in the summer. My
(46:11):
shout outs come to me from the comments you have.
Ashley Kemper, who also agreed with the Sandlot, but also
throughout stand by Me, which probably should have made my
honorable mentions. Josh Yee said a goofy movie, which is
one of my favorite movies of all time. I think
if I hadn't just ran it about that movie in
a recent episode, it would have made my list. Maybe
(46:31):
because it's animated, it doesn't really speak to me in
the same way that some of the live action summer
movies do, even though that movie takes place after his
last day of school and one of the greatest road
trips of all time. And Susan Bye said Dirty Dancing.
But that is a movie I watched once and I
didn't really get it. I don't really get the iconicness
of Dirty Dancing except probably for that final scene, that
(46:55):
final dance number. Aside from that, that's not really a
movie that screams summer to me. So I will end
my thought on Dirty Dancing with that and anticipate all
the hate I will get in the comments and messages
in regards to that comment. So thank you for listening.
Hope you have a great rest of your week, and
until next time, go out and watch good movies and
I will talk to you later.
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. Two
words that we'll cover in this week's episode as the
theme summer and comedy. I want to share with you
my top five movies that take place in the summer,
all inspired by this week's movie review, where Kelsey will
be hopping in later to talk about the new comedy
theater Camp and then at the trailer park, we're keeping
(00:20):
the comedy train going and we're gonna talk about a
new movie coming out this year called Bottom. So thank
you for being here, Thank you for being subscribed and
listening every single week. Shout out to the Monday Morning
movie crew. He Now, let's talk movies.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast,
one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like
never before in a movie podcast. A man with so
much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMTB with glasses.
From the Nashville Podcast Network. This is Movie Mike's Movie Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
There is something special about a movie that takes place
in the summer because as a kid growing up, I think,
like everybody, it was my favorite time of the year,
no school, no rules, swimming pools, lakes and Tuna Fish Stand,
which is that was summer to me, and I love
movies that can capture that feeling of the season. So
I want to share with you my top five films
(01:20):
that take place in the summer. As we're kind of
winding down the summertime, as kids are going back to school,
and even now as an adult, seeing that back to
school display come up at Walmart or Target, it just
gives me a sad feeling even though it's been a
very long time since I've had to go to grade school.
But as this summer comes to an end, even though
it doesn't feel like it because it's still a billion
(01:41):
degrees outside, I want to share with you some movies
that can keep summer going forever for you. Because the
thing they don't tell you as a kid is that
when you're an adult, you will miss every single summer
because it doesn't stop. So what I do is I
go back and watch movies that I watch as a
kid that had summer in them and make me feel
like I have no responsibilities and make me feel like
(02:02):
a kid again. So the rules for this list in
this top five is these movies will simply they must
take place in the summer. But not only that, the
storyline has to be very specific to summer, therefore could
only take place in the months of June, July, or August.
It has to play a pivotal part in the entire plot.
(02:22):
It's not just the story that happens to be during
the summer. It can only exist because it happens in
the summer. How many times am I going to say
summer in this episode? Basically, the movie has to embody summer.
It doesn't mean that these movies had to be released
in the summer, because a lot of them weren't, but
they are all great summer movies that have stood the
test of time. So these have been movies that I've
(02:43):
been watching since I was a kid, and I feel
that everybody should watch at least once to give them
that summer feeling. So let's kick off this list with
number five from nineteen seventy five. The movie is Jaws,
one of the best horror films of all time. And
the reason I feel that this movie embody summer is
because it's about a great white shark named Jaws. This
(03:04):
beach town is in distress, but it is a quintessential
summer film, not only because it takes place at summer,
It takes place at a beach, and it has made
basically everybody afraid to go out into the open water
with the fear of Jaws creeping up underneath you. That
I feel like when this movie came out in the seventies,
it was so terrorizing to so many people, and the
(03:27):
movie has to the test of time and stand the
test of time. It has. It is a movie that
gets screened every single summer, and I love places that
do these screenings out on the water to Jaws, because
there is just something eerie feeling that even if you're
in a lake and watching a screening of Jaws, something
in the back of your head still has this fear of, oh, man,
(03:47):
there could actually be a shark in here. But aside
from it just being a movie that embodies summer, and
the reason that big summer blockbusters are a thing is
because of Jaws. This was that first big blockbuster because
before Jaws, the summer season at the movie theater was
not what it is today. You wouldn't put your best
movies out in the summer. Everybody was doing other things.
(04:10):
They were going out on vacation and living life. But
after Jaws, came out in the summer of seventy five
and proved to be such a big success. This is
when all the movie studios thought, well, if Jaws could
have success doing this, let's put all our biggest properties
out during the summer. Therefore, the summer blockbuster was born,
which is now my favorite time of the year. And
(04:32):
I think we've been having a pretty great one so
far in twenty twenty three. So for all those reasons,
I put Jaws at number five. At number four, I
thought a long time about this, and I try to
think of movies that have really stood the test of
time for me and have really been influential on my life,
and I throw away all of that critical acclaim and
(04:52):
all the reasons that movies should make a top five list,
and thought about movies that really mean a lot to me.
And a movie for me that embodies summer, that embodies
my early even preteen years, is a movie that came
out in two thousand and one, and number four I
have American Pie two. I would argue that this is
one of the best comedic sequels of all time, because
(05:16):
you can look throughout history whenever you have a hit comedy,
the idea is let's do that same movie again, but worse.
There are very few times where a sequel to a
comedy comes out and it is better than the first one.
And oftentimes in the nineties, you just wouldn't get a
sequel because why even touch it. It was gonna go
(05:36):
straight to video. And really, the only movie that comes
to mind, which I know somebody will message me and say,
you forgot about this movie or you forgot about that movie.
But when I think of all the great comedies I've
seen in my life and have been anticipating a sequel to,
the only one that has met my expectations and I
would argue is better than the original movie is American
(05:57):
Pie Too, because the first one took place in high
school and American Pie two takes place a year after that,
their first summer away from college, getting all back together.
They've all had these different life experiences, meeting different people.
The guys were in a beach house and val to
make this the best summer ever. So you have that
same cast playing those same great characters that I really
(06:20):
felt an odd connection to. And I think it's because
when that first movie came out, I was very impressionable,
and I probably shouldn't have watched American Pie in nineteen
ninety nine because I was eight years old, But for
some reason, it was probably because I thought these characters
were so cool and I thought when I go to
high school, I want to be like them. That I
was never so invested in a cast of characters that
(06:43):
I needed to know what are they up to now?
What is it going to be like when they all
get together again and start hanging out? And I think
that is something that was so essential to all these
raunchy teen comedies in the late nineties and early two thousands,
that there were just really great, well written, fleshed out characters.
There hasn't been an attention to detail on character development
(07:06):
and comedies. Therefore you get a lot of flat characters
that nobody cares about, and all anybody can argue about
is these movies aren't funny anymore. We have to start
at the basics. Look at what American Pie did. Even
though every sequel that came after, with the reunion and
the Wedding, maybe they didn't hold up to all of
the standards that the first and second one did, but
(07:26):
they were still characters you were invested in. And I
remember seeing this movie and instantly being sucked in from
that very first opening scene. This is the only movie
I can really remember that I know the very first
song from the soundtrack. The movie opens up with the
universal logo, and this song called every Time I Look
for You by Blink within eighty two plays and that
(07:47):
is a movie moment embedded in my head. And that's
all I'm going to play before I go to podcast jail.
But just looking at the soundtrack of this movie, it
is very much a reflection of my musical taste. You
have that song by Blink n eighty two. You also
have some forty one both fat lip and into deep
songs like Flavor of the Week by American Hi Fi,
(08:09):
hash Pipe by Weezer, Hit or Miss by Newfound Glory.
You have the offspring all of these late nineties early
two thousands bands that are essentially the very first developments
of my musical taste, all on one soundtrack. That's another
thing that has really gone away is a real curation
of a movie soundtrack. I used to love soundtracks, and
(08:31):
I guess a lot of that was due to back
in the day they would actually come out on CD
that would really you make a movie to have a
great soundtrack, but now I feel like maybe sometimes you
only get one song by one big artist to go
along with a movie. But just by looking at the
movie soundtrack, these are all still songs I still listen
to today and it would probably put on my running playlist.
(08:54):
I also love the story development in this movie of
once they all get together for they realize that everybody
has changed and things weren't the way they were in
high school. And I felt like that was a really
great thing for me to learn early on. Even at
the time that this movie came out, I was probably
in sixth grade. I just knew that this was gonna
be something I needed to learn now. So this is
(09:16):
a great sequel, one of my favorite comedic sequels of
all time, and my fourth favorite movie that takes place
in summer. I'm going with American Pie Too at number
three from nineteen ninety three. It is the One, the Only,
the Great Hambino the Sandlot. The movie takes place in
(09:38):
the summer of nineteen sixty two. It's about a kid
named Smalls who gets taken under the wing a young
baseball prodigy known as Benny the Jet Rodriguez and his
rowdy team that plays baseball every single summer in this
Sandla and boy, they have a lot of fun doing this.
And as a kid, I was terrible at every single sport.
(10:01):
I was also terrible at having friends. And I would
watch this movie and think, Man, I wish I could
live in a town like that where you had a
bunch of kids who got together every single summer to
play a sport they loved. Even though everybody on the
team wasn't destined for greatness like Benny that Jet Rodriguez,
it was still like, oh, man, I would just love
(10:21):
to have a perfect summer like that. And this movie
is an embodiment of all the things that come along
with summer. Of course, it revolves around them playing baseball,
but then you get the life stuff too, like them
all going to the community pool and one of the
best comedic scenes of the nineties of Squints weaseling away
(10:42):
to get a kiss from Wendy Peppercorn. And then you
also get the iconic scene of them going to the
fair and taking that big Chief dip, putting it in
their mouths and getting sick to their stomach and vomiting
all on that carnival ride. But hands down the best
scene in this movie that embodies summer is the fourth
(11:03):
of July night game scene where they have just enough
light to play a game of baseball because all of
the light given off from all the fireworks going off
in the sky with each firework that illuminates the sky,
giving them just enough visual to see the ball and
to run the bases. And what I love about the
scene is the foreshadowing because as they are playing their game,
(11:27):
all the kids get distracted by the fireworks because it's
forth of July. That's what you look forward to as
a kid, seeing all the fireworks go up in the sky,
seeing which ones make the biggest explosion, seeing which ones
that are a little underwhelming. And as all the kids
are getting distracted and forget about the game they're playing
because they're looking at all the fireworks in the sky,
(11:47):
you see Benny the jet Rodriguez not even taking a
second look at the sky. He is continuing to run
the bases after hitting the ball, showing you in that
moment the foreshadowing that he is going to be the
only one to go on to the major leagues because
he is taking it that seriously. He doesn't even feel
like a kid in that moment because he is so
(12:08):
focused on the game, so focused on getting better, that
he doesn't care about the fact that there is four
the July fireworks going on and he just continues to
run the basis. So that is one of my favorite
scenes and one of the best summertime scenes of all time.
So that is why I put the Sandlot at number three.
At number two is a movie from two thousand and
(12:31):
nine calls Adventureland. Two thousand and nine is one of
my favorite years in entertainment, whether it be movies, music,
video games. It's a year that I just associate with
a lot of good things coming out in two thousand
and nine. It was also the year I graduated high school,
so I felt like it was a very formative year
for a lot of what would go on to be
(12:51):
my taste in college and even now. But two thousand
and nine's adventure Land, I feel as a movie a
lot of people missed out on, and I think that's
greatly due to the marketing. I feel like they didn't
know how to sell this movie with the trailer and
all the promotional materials that were a lot more focused
on who was in the movie rather than what the
(13:12):
movie was about because it has a pretty stat cast,
especially for two thousand and nine, very much a snapshot
of what was going on in this year. In the
two thousand you have Jesse Eisenberg, Kristin Stewart, Ryan Reynolds,
Kristin Wig, Bill Hayter, and also Martin Starr, who I
loved in Freaks and Geeks, and he's also been in
(13:33):
the MCU Spider Man franchise. But despite coming out in
two thousand and nine, the movie actually takes place in
the summer of nineteen eighty seven. Jesse Eisenberg plays a
college graduate whose life really hasn't gone the way he
had planned. He had all of these big visions moving
to the big city, starting a company, and doing all
these really grand things in his life, and then it
(13:55):
just kind of resorts to him moving back home and
taking this job at a local amusement park where you
just go if you really can't get a job anywhere else.
But that job at that amusement park ends up being
more beneficial to him in his life than college ever was.
This movie is also from the director of super Bad,
but I feel like it's a little bit more of
(14:15):
a sophisticated comedy than super Bad is, where that's a
little bit more wacky and over the top. I feel
like maybe that's the reason this movie didn't have as
big a success as a super Bad, because maybe you
go into this thinking, Oh, it's gonna be a movie
that's really hilarious and funny, and all these funny people
are in it. Therefore it's gonna be just like super Bad.
It's not really like that at all. It's more of
(14:37):
a little slice of life movie with some comedic elements,
but really just goes on much more of an emotional
roller coaster, no pun intended, than you would expect, And
I think that is why I ended up loving this
movie so much. It also does one of the best
jobs of incorporating the soundtrack into the movie, has one
of my favorite uses of a song in a movie
(14:57):
of all time. Since the movie takes place in the eighties,
obviously has a lot of eighties music. My favorite eighties
band of all time is The Cure. My favorite song
of theirs is just Like Heaven. And there's a scene
in this movie where Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart's character
have this special moment writing these bumper cars and this
song plays over the top, and it's one of my
(15:22):
favorite scenes in any movie from the two thousand. So
I've been saying that all episode long because there are
these scenes that just stick with me throughout my life
and make me want to go back and experience summer
like this, And so I would say this movie greatly
reflects what summer I wish I would have had at
this point in my life. So that's why I put
(15:42):
this movie at number two, because if I could only
pick one summer to have from a movie, it would
be my number one pick, but this would definitely be
my number two pick to have this kind of summer
after going to college and going back home. So at
number two is adventure Land, but at number one the
movie I feel in Body Summer one hundred percent throughout
(16:06):
this entire movie. It is the nineteen ninety five now
cult comedy co written by Judd Apatow. It stars Ben
Stiller as a maniac fitness instructor who terrorizes the kid's
fat camp until the kids overtake the camp. It is Heavyweights,
and I feel like you look at this movie now
and say they couldn't make this movie today. And I
(16:28):
am speaking to you as a former self proclaimed fat kid.
I was overweight my entire life as far back as
I could remember, which caused me to feel like the outcast.
I was bullied, picked on, made fun of, and even
now as an adult, sometimes I just revert back to
that same kid who was in third grade and thinking that, man,
(16:51):
life is never really going to get any better than this.
I'm always going to be the overweight kid. And it
wasn't until I was exposed to this movie where it
actually didn't have a whole lot of success in theaters.
Disney didn't know what to do with this movie. It
was a live action movie that didn't really fit the
Disney brand, so they didn't really shelf it. But kind
(17:12):
of like what I was saying with that Ventureland, they
didn't really know how to promote this movie, and Ben
Stiller didn't even want to be used in the promotional
material for this movie. He asked for his image not
to be included in the poster or the trailer. So
that was a big hit to this movie. You take
your biggest star of the movie and can't use him
(17:33):
when selling this movie. The original trailer was a bit
of a mess and didn't really give you what this
movie was about. And as I was saying, you think, oh,
you couldn't make this movie today. But I don't really
look at it this way. I don't really think this
movie was made with the intention of making fun of
overweight kids. And this is coming as somebody who was
(17:54):
overweight their entire life until they made the decision to
get healthy. And something that I struggle with a lot was,
you know, getting made fun of, and a lot of
times that happens in movies where the overweight character is
the butt of every single joke, and to be completely honest,
you get sick of it. You think, why is somebody
like me always depicted in that way, always as the bozo,
(18:14):
the one messing things up, and never the hero of
the movie. And it wasn't until Heavyweights that I realized, Look,
we can be cool, we can be the stars of movies.
This was the first time I looked at a cast
of a film, looked at the poster, and I saw
kids that look like me and were funny, and you
(18:35):
were able to see that, Oh, they're just regular people
and we should be telling more stories like this. So
I don't look at this movie thinking, ah, they were
awful for making fun of overweight kids. No, I look
at this movie as yes, we have our movie. We
are able to tell our story, we are able to
take our stance and be proud of who we are
because the roles are really reversed in Heavyweights, where all
(18:58):
of these kids are the and the skinny ones are
the losers and the lame os and the jerks. So
I am so glad that this movie exists. You can
watch it still on Disney Plus. And if there was
one summer I could live out from any movie, it
would hands down be Heavyweights. And I haven't really seen
(19:18):
a movie made like this until well. I watched Theater
Camp this past weekend, and I'll get into my full
review during that part of this episode. But this is
hands down the best movie to ever take place in
the summer. My number one pick goes to Heavyweights. I
do have a lot of honorable mentions. Almost sneaking into
(19:40):
my top five was The Parent Trap, which is a
great movie. I almost put it above Jaws, but I
guess since the fact that it was a remake made
me think, let's put an original in the top five.
But of course that story takes place because of the
switcher Rud that happens at summer camp. Also almost making
my top five was We're the Millers from twenty thirteen,
(20:00):
which all takes place over the Fourth of July weekend.
I feel like that's another great comedy that doesn't get
enough attention. You also have the Lizzie McGuire movie from
two thousand and three, which took place right after they
graduated middle school and it was their summer in Rome.
Summer of two thousand and three was very significant for
me because of the Lizzie McGuire movie. I also almost
(20:21):
threw a different horror movie in my list, I Know
What You Did Last Summer from nineteen ninety seven. So
close would have been Independence There from nineteen ninety six,
one of the best sci fi action movies of the nineties.
You also have movies like Daste and Confused from ninety three,
My Girl from ninety one, or even Friday the Thirteenth
from nineteenth eighty. What I really think is lacking from
(20:42):
this list is a superhero movie, which leads me to
my next point. I have an idea for a movie
about a superhero that gains their powers on the last
day of school. I've had a lot of ideas for
superhero movies where I feel like people are saying, ah,
(21:03):
every superhero movie has been done and it's becoming a
little stale. I just think the formula needs to be
switched up a little bit, and we need to stop
making origin stories that are all completely the same, trying
to build another Avengers, whether it be in the MCU
or in DC. We just need to make great solo
movies that stand on their own. So my idea for
(21:24):
a movie, going along with our theme of the best
summer movies, is about a character who gets their powers
on the last day of school. And they have been
somebody who hasn't had a whole lot of friends, has
struggled the entire year, and they look forward to the
last day of school because that means, Okay, now I
just get to spend my time in my room and
do what I want and not be bothered by bullies
(21:46):
and not have to deal with schoolwork. But then that
last day of school, somehow they encounter their superhero powers.
And what you always see in superhero movies is somebody
discovers their powers and they have that whole time of like, oh,
what do I do Now? I got to be a superhero?
And eventually they do become a superhero. But I want
a story about a reluctant superhero, somebody that gets powers
(22:09):
and doesn't want them. They're kind of a nerdier, more
introverted person. So what would happen if a person like
that got superhero powers and thought, I'm not going to
do anything with this. I'm not telling anybody, and I'm
also not going to fight crime because just interacting with
people scares the crab out of me. But through the
course of this summer, they realize, oh man, it's actually
(22:29):
kind of my duty now to do good. And it's
them coming out of their shell in a summer, which
I think we all did as kids. The summer felt
like such a big throwing time where people were so
different on the last day of school versus the first
day of the next year, where somebody's gotten taller, somebody
has gone on a specific trip that has changed their
perspective on things, and everybody grew so much every summer
(22:53):
in middle school and in high school that I feel
like that should be represented through a superhero of somebody
who is very nerdy, timid inside their own thoughts. But
then at the end of the summer, they have had
all these adventures of becoming a superhero, but as soon
as that first day of school hits, they kind of
go back into hiding and they're not a superhero anymore
(23:15):
until the next summer kicks off and they go back
into superhero mode. So that is all right, we'll come back.
Kelsey is hopping in. We're gonna give our movie review
of Theater Camp, and then I'll also talk about a
new comedy called Bottoms. I'm gonna get into a spoiler
(23:37):
free movie review. I'm joined now by my wife and
co host Kelsey. How are you.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I'm good. I just feel like disproportionately low.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
We're here, Arlo Low. You're in the director's chair.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I need to work on my posture anyways.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see the
difference in our chairs. So we're about to talk about
Theater Camp, which before we get into what this movie
is about, I want to talk about our theater experience.
This is a movie we went to go watch at
our local community theater, nonprofit theater called the Bellcourt in Nashville.
And if you ever get a chance to visit Nashville,
and obviously because you listen to this podcast. You're a
(24:08):
big movie fan, I highly recommend you check out The Bellcourt.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Wouldn't you say I love the Bell Court. It's I mean,
they only have like three screens, but the snack selection
is great, is incredible and truly great.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I just love supporting an independent theater because it feels
like they care more about you.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, and they show a lot of movies that we
wouldn't be able to see a lot of.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
And a lot of foreign films, a lot of lower
budget movies like theater Camp. So, whether it be The
Bell Court, if you're in Nashville or any just local
theater that you can go support somebody who feels like
it actually matters to them that you were there. I
would say go and support them and watch movies like
theater camps. So this movie is about a struggling summer
(24:49):
camp for theater kids. Their founder is trying to raise
money to get a bunch of kids the ability to
be able to go to this camp, and right at
the start of it, she gets put into a coma
yes and yes. So then her son has to come
and run the camp, and then all the other people
who work at the camp are trying to let her
(25:10):
legacy live on.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
She's not dead, she's not dead to living on. It's
just still living.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
But they are trying to honor her through a new
play called Joan Still it is. It's a ridiculous plot
when you think about it. The whole premise of this
movie is ridiculous, but the entire thing plays out so well.
So going back to our theater experience, we watched this
in a movie theater that only holds thirty four people.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah, it is the screening Room and Court.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
And it was sold out. So the first thing was
I felt a little bit claustrophobic, Yes, that we were
in the third row.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
There's smaller rows and there's only one entrance on the side,
so you can't It's not like a bigger theater where
you can go up the stairs and go to both sides.
It's like you walk in, then you have to go
down the stairs and there's two rows behind the projector
and then three rows in front of the projector.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And I kind of felt like when either a dog
or a cat has like a bunch of people over
that they don't know, and they immediately go into like
survival mode, like what is happened? That's how I felt
so much so that I asked for us to move
from that seat to the very front row. Like with
everybody coming in the row, I just felt like they
were gonna be walking up throughout the entire movie, like
coming back out, and it was gonna be.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
A pain, which I mean, I'm an ale girl. I
don't like to walk over people. I don't mind when
people have to step in front of me, but I
know that I'm gonna have to get up at some point,
so it was fine. I mean, the third row in
the first row and that small theater didn't really make
that much difference, but it did kind of feel like
the screen.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
It was like, yeah, that is normally why I'm not
a front row person, but I felt because this theater
room was so small that it wouldn't have had that
big of an impact. I was okay with it. I
like being engulfed in a screen.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
It was a short movie, but I did laugh when
the guy next to us came in with the snacks,
sat down next to his girlfriend and whispered, I don't
think I've ever said this close to a screen in.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
My entire We were very close, but with those thirty
four people filling out this theater. I really feel like
that added to the level of community in this movie.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
It was a sense of camaraderie. We all enjoyed the movie.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
It was a big bonding experience to where I feel
like watching it with that amount of people really made
this movie a lot funnier. It made it more of
an experience. And what I loved about theater camp is
what I always look for in a comedy like this
is how many jokes do they attempt throughout the entire movie,
like the per capita, Like how many are they firing
(27:28):
out hitting on They don't really have to hit on
every joke for me, but the fact that they keep
attempting jokes and throwing things out there that are comedic.
It's not about how many punches you land. It's about
how many attempts you have when it comes to me
in comedy movies, and I feel like throughout this entire
movie it was just one after the other.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
That's a good boxing reference is that because we've been
boxing on the weekends exactly feel like our instructures would
appreciate them.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And the other thing about this movie and about comedies nowadays,
is people say you can't really make a funny movie anymore.
I think with theater camp shows is you can't. You
have to be a little bit more niche when it
comes to making a comedy. And I think that's why
this movie is resonating with so many people, because it's
very much a relatable movie to anybody who did the theater.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I wasn't even a theater kid. I take the back
my starring role in the eighth grade. I was at
a new school. I thought if I joined the play,
I would make friends. Spoiler alert. It didn't work, and
I was in the Hobbit and my only line was
to hiss on stage?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Can you give us a little of that? No?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
But I'm not a theater kid either. I aspired to be,
but I wasn't extroverted enough to be a theater kid
like I think personality wise, I was more like I identified
with that, but as far as actually being in plays
and singing in musicals, I was not a theater kid.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You were the theater tech. Orn't.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, I would have been more of the tech in
this movie, But I still feel like it was so
relatable to anybody who was in theater or was around
it and knew about it. Like, I feel like that
is what you have to do to make a comedy
is be a lot more relatable to a very select
group of people, so much so that even like us
who weren't theater kids, you can watch this movie and
(29:05):
really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
It's relatable in the sense that, like if you were
ever a kid that like kind of had a niche
and didn't fit in, Like I was a super nerdy kid,
I could be friends with a lot of people, but
like I was nerdy. I didn't do sports. I was
president of the math club. Like just the hits just
kept coming on, like the nerdiness for me. And I
feel like I could relate to this movie because they're
just they're a bunch of odd balls.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah. And the other thing about it is if you
don't relate to the theater part, maybe you relate to
the camp part. And another thing, I never went to
summer camp. Did you ever go to any summer camps?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
And then you're not missing out on much.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
What kind of summer camp did you go to?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I went to a lot of church camps. Okay, I
broke my wrist at a church camp.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Ah, is that what your wrist is? The way it is.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yeah, did a lot of church camps. I'm trying to
think if I did anything else.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
If you were to go to camp now as an adult,
what kind of camp would you go to. I think
I would want to go to like a space camp
with a high focus on aliens, where you like watch
the skies and try find anything weird. You learn about
UFOs and have like this bonding experience just learning about
alien creatures. I think that would be fun to me.
As a summer camp as an adult anyway, I.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Would like to go to on site here in Nashville
it was just basically a therapy camp. As an adult
therapy camp sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I would actually probably benefit a lot from a therapy camp.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
And they take your phones or really is like summer camp.
The worst part of summer camp was just that you
gave up any modern convenience, Like there was no air.
You're bringing like a clip on fan, everyone smells. They're
sending you to bed at like midnight, and then it's
like up at six point thirty for the next day.
I need my beauty sleep. That is not enough sleep.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Well, you just described where my summer's in Mexico. That
is exactly it. It's hot, people smell you, go to
sleep really late, there's no air conditioning. That is my
summer else. Okay, but maybe I went to summer camp.
It was just Mexico.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
But the food was better in Mexico, was it not?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Oh that's true.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Way, the summer camp food is not good. It's just
a bunch of like teenagers serving you over baked t
lasagna made for four hundred.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I ate a lot of swine in Mexico. But it
was also the result of me getting very sick as
a kid. The sickest I ever got was in Mexico
once summer.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
I told this story before where.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I started hallucinating and I saw a little a little
leprechaun clapping that I was so out of my mind.
And I think that's why now as an adult, I
don't really get sick that often. Because I drank the
water in Mexico, I ate the food, got so sick,
and now I'm like immune to some diseases.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Two thoughts, one little lepre console were redundant. I feel
like you.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
No, it was a little leprechaun. Okay too, his hands.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
That is why you have the immune system of steel.
What's frustrating is you never get sick from me, but
when you get sick, I get sick.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, that is unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
It's very unfortunate. But all right, back to the back
to the movie.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
But you look at the cast in this movie, and
it's a lot of characters that you don't really think
go together, but when you see them all on screen
and all together, so well, so good.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Well, a lot of the people know each other or
like have worked together. Yeah, two of the writers were
Ben Platt, Noah Galvin. They're engaged. And then Molly Gordon
and I feel like Molly Gordon's spend something of Ben
Platt and she was on the Bear she so she
was already knew one of the other characters in the
movie who came in as like a new camp counselor
who lied on her resume and it was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And then Jimmy Tatrow plays the son of Joan in
this movie, who takes over the camp and is trying
to run it. But he's very much like a bro influencer,
want to be like crypto.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Guy, and he's a bitcoin guy.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
And he has no idea how to run the camp.
And I've been a fan of his since like the
YouTube days, like twenty tens. YouTube was so influential on me,
and he's really been like consistently doing things throughout the
twenty tens, so much so that YouTube isn't even his
main focus anymore. Now. He's done a lot of movies.
I think his biggest thing has probably been American Vandal
(32:54):
on Netflix, where a bunch of people like starting to
recognize him. But I feel like he is a person
who's just been grinding for so long now, and I
wouldn't say this is a typical role I would have
expected of him. I see him more like he was
in twenty two Jump Street, but this is I feel like,
more of his wheelhouse. I feel like he is able
(33:15):
to show a lot of the side that he shows
on his YouTube channel in this character. And I feel
like he was my favorite part of this movie.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
He was so good that. And then the girl from
the Bear that's in this who's been in everything.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, Aoa Debrie, who is gonna be in another movie
I'm out to talk about in the next trailer, who
I feel is just in a lot of things right now.
And I kind of feel like there's this new Hollywood
class slowly creeping up in movies and TV.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
She has such a like recognizable face now from all
the things, and then she voiced in Teenage Mutant Ninja
turnle Yes. She was able to be in everything lately.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
And I think she does so well in comedies, and
I feel like, now there is a slight shift on
slowly making a return, which I'll get into more when
I'm talking about bottoms. But this movie really made me
feel that, where throughout this entire movie, everybody in our
theater was laughing. The entire time I was cackling.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
There were just.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Ridiculous moments, the rememberable songs, especially like the finale song.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Camp Isn't Home.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
It was such a great moment in a movie that
I feel like, look, you can make great comedies if
you focus on one specific thing. And it also reminded
me of one of my favorite movies of all time
that I was talking about earlier, Heavyweights. This kind of
felt like that, but instead of a camp for overweight kids,
it was a camp for all these theater kids. Similar struggles.
(34:39):
They have the outcasts, you have the big corporation trying
to take you down, trying to close this camp. So
kind of the same plot lines of the underdogs from
Heavyweights are the underdogs in Theater Camp. So I think
that's also why if you are a fan of movies
about underdog stories, this is a great one for you too.
So anything else I missed about this movie that you loved.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
With seeing some of the funny parts in the trailer,
like there were still laughable moments, because I know that's
kind of a thing. I feel like that happened to
a lot of Melissa McCarthy's movies. Yeah, all the good
jokes where they would show all the good jokes in
the trailer and then you go to the movie and
you're like, I've already seen that, and that's not her fault,
that's just whoever produces the trailers. But I thought that
this movie still made me laugh despite all of the
(35:22):
funny parts, and the funny parts that they showed in
the trailer were what made me want to go see
the movie. Yeah, so it brought me in. But then
they still kept me laughing, and.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I still found myself laughing at the jokes that were
in the trailer because they were still funny in context.
They were funny which rarely happened. So I really loved
this movie. If you had to give theater camp a rating,
what would you give it?
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Four point five out of five tap dances.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Oh, that's good, I think. I think I'm right between
that four and four and a half.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Which would be a four point two five.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah, so I'm gonna go I'm gonna go four point five, okay,
And I think I would give it a four if
I watched it on my own. But I think that
point five is that community experience of watching this movie
with other people and adding to that level of humor.
When you see other people laughing and hear other people laughing,
it makes you want to laugh more.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
It was also a very diverse group, yeah, which was fun.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
And I think that that is how comedy should be
seen now. And it's harder to get people into a
theater to watch a comedy like this, especially with not
a whole lot of marketing. There's no a list star
in this movie.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I would bag that Ben Platts. He's not a list,
but in the theater community, he's a list.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
So like this movie is targeted towards If you were
looking at the target of this movie, which is probably
theater kids and theater lovers, Ben Platt is an a lister,
which we also saw Ben Plat at a restaurant here
one time.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Oh, we did see a meeting. That was one of
those moments where we're pretty good at picking out where people.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
So good at it, and we're like really good at
just kind of like that, just kind of like look
at each other really.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
And sometimes people just look famous and you know, and
you go through your rolodex of like who could that be?
And that was when we were like, ah, that's who
that is. But I feel like it's just pretty chill.
But anyway, Yeah, I give it a four point five
out of five. Throat Coat packets, which was another thing
that was very It was so specific. There's a joke
where it reminded me again of Heavyweights whenever they were
like confiscating all of like the fast food they were
(37:16):
getting in from outside the camp. The joke here is
that they have the throat coat, which is tea that
you drink to help your voice. A lot of performers
use it, and just that joke that I don't really
that's like, yeah that I don't. I don't really identify
with that as far as like knowing what that does
for your voice. But I just love that joke in there.
It was great.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
It was good. I know there's so many other things,
but I don't want to give it all away. But
there's one scene where they're all doing auditions for a plane.
This one kid just sings something out of left field.
Oh yeah, I won't say what it is, but it
just it's Chef's.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Kiss hit me in the heart. But that is our
review of Theater Camp. Anything you want to say before
you go.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Go see it, go see it at your local indie theater.
We love the Bell Court so much we are going
there tonight see a movie.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
So it's time to head down to movie Mike.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Trailer Paul. I want to talk about a new comedy
coming out on August twenty fifth called Bottoms, and it
is an R rated comedy. I know that kids listen
to this podcast, and I'm not about to say any
dirty words, but obviously when talking about an R rated,
raunchy comedy, we'll get into some areas here that maybe
if you're not allowed to watch R rated comedies, this
(38:28):
may not be the trailer park for you. So that
is just my warning going into talking about this movie.
I'm not about to start like cursing and ripping out
a different side of me that you're not used to.
It's just when talking about the premise of this movie,
you get into some adult themes right at the beginning
of this because it is about two unpopular best friends
named PJ and Josie who start a high school fight
club in order to meet girls and lose their v card.
(38:51):
I almost feel like this is a resurgence in a
way of the raunchy two thousand's late nineties comedy that
really ran rampant without having to check themselves in any way.
And sometimes you look back on some of those movies
and think, oo, how are they able to make some
of those Some of those things would not fly today.
But I also feel like back in the day you
(39:12):
weren't able to tell it from this perspective where it
is two girls trying to hook up with other girls,
and it's just a new take on a story that
we're familiar with. And by the looks of this trailer,
it looked like it could be one of the funniest
movies in this genre. So before I get into more
of my thoughts, here's just a little bit of the
Bottoms trailer. I'm gonna expel you both for committing a
(39:34):
crime against Jeff did out of the car. Can't tell
me what to do.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
We were just practicing it for ourself defense club.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
So it's like a fight club.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yes, just stay in your lane until you're latching. Beavert Wesleyan, Yes, sir,
what's your plan here? Jeff's caught it and they're picking
on the week and defenseless. So we teach a bunch
of girls how to defend themselves. They are grateful to us.
Adrenaline is flowing. Next thing you know Isabelle and are
kidding as a mouse. So I feel like now our
(40:04):
rated comedies specifically are making a comeback. They are just
a little bit fewer and further between, and they look
a lot different now. They look like movies like Bottoms,
where you have characters that really haven't been at the
forefront of a movie. And I, for one, feel like
it is so refreshing to not have the same comedy
made over and over again. And I feel like when
(40:26):
we wonder why don't they make movies like super Bad anymore, Well,
it's because you can't keep making the same comedy over
and over and keep getting people to laugh at them.
You have to look at different people from different walks
of life and focus on something completely different, and sometimes
people don't like that. So you want to make the
same comedy over and over again. Okay, but nobody's gonna
(40:49):
watch it. That is why I think everybody should be
taking note of Bottoms and the rise of R rated
comedies has been seen a lot in the last five
years where almost you have to go really really raunchy,
to the point that you're gonna turn some people away
who don't like these type of movies, but the people
who do enjoy them are really going to lean into
(41:09):
it if you go all out. I'm thinking of movies
like Good Boys, even Deadpool, which has changed the way
that we think of superhero movies, and the fact that
it's R rated but also has a lot of comedy
and action throughout. You almost have to give audiences something
a little bit more to chew on, or even movies
like BookSmart that really reinvented what super Bad was but
(41:30):
gave it a different spin, much like Bottoms is doing now.
It's kind of like the American Pie, but through the
perspective of two girls. Even just this year with Jennifer
Lawrence and no hard feelings. You have strays which is
coming out in theaters, or even movies like in twenty
eighteen Game Night, Triangle of Sadness Bros. Or even one
of my favorites, Jackass Forever, or even movies that aren't
(41:51):
just straight ahead comedies like the Banshees of in a Sheeran,
which by no means is a wacky comedy from like
the nineties or two thousands era, but on paper that
movie made me laugh more so than any other straight
ahead comedy in the last three years. So I feel
like now you can't just make the same comedy you've
been making for so long. So you have to have
(42:12):
a great cast, a great director, and a great story.
And I heard Adam Devine talking recently about how Marvel
has ruined the comedy. Adam Divine, who you may know
from Workaholics Mike and Dave need Wedding Dates. He's also
right now on The Righteous Gemstones. He was in Pitch
Perfect one and two. But he was on an episode
of THEO Vaughn's podcast recently saying that he thinks the
(42:33):
reason Marvel has killed the comedy is because we all
go into the movie theater expecting to see something that
looks like it costs two hundred million dollars to make.
And I'm paraphrasing this a bit, but essentially saying that
it feels like you're getting ripped off if you go
and watch a comedy which doesn't have all those same
bellows and whistles like a two hundred million dollar movie would.
(42:54):
So it feels like, why would I pay fifteen dollars
to watch an okay comedy when I could pay those
same fifteen dollars and see something larger than life. I
think there is some truth to that, where it feels
like comedies, romantic comedies, or even some indie dramas or
Oscar Baby movies feel like when you go watch them
in theaters. It's not that you're getting an inferior product.
(43:17):
I just feel like the viewing experience isn't always enhanced
by going to see it in the theater. With some
of those movies, you get a much more enjoyable experience
if you just watch them in the comfort of your
own home. So I feel like you should always have
the decision to watch what you want to watch, how
you want to watch it. I would argue, though, that
(43:39):
some comedies like theater camp we were talking about earlier,
are enhanced by watching them in a crowd only if
they are done correctly and are actually quality comedies. If not,
there is nothing worse than going to see a comedy
in theaters that is not funny and that you want
to walk out of because it is so oh so bad.
(44:02):
And the benefit of watching a bad comedy at home
is you can just turn it off and never think
about it again. So yes, maybe in some aspects our
expectations have changed when going to the movie theater, But
I really think it comes down to the quality of
movies being made in the comedy space, which also has
to do with what studios want to invest in, and
(44:23):
they're not really investing in comedy so much anymore, so
therefore you get kind of an inferior product. So I
don't think it's a direct correlation of superhero movies ruining everything.
I think everybody just always wants to blame Marvel for
ruining the movie industry, when really they have saved it
time and time again getting people back into those seats,
(44:45):
so really they've probably kept it alive in the last decade.
To be honest, you just have to adapt and you
have to give people something a little bit more. He
also went on to say in that interview that you
have to mask it. You have to give it an
action quality, you have to give it a horror quality.
So much like in today's world, where you just can't
be one thing anymore, you gotta do a lot of
(45:07):
things really well to get people's attentions. Or you can
make a movie like Bottoms, where you have all of
those same mechanics and familiarities of the comedies we all
know and love, but give it a unique spin and
have it speak to an audience that hasn't had a
movie like this to represent them. And this trailer was
also played in our theater when we went to go
see Theater Camp. And I've never heard people laugh so
(45:30):
much throughout a trailer of a movie. And I'm hoping
that much like Theater Camp, they didn't show all the
funniest parts in this one. I can't wait to see
it again. The movie is called Bottoms, it's rated R,
and it's coming out on August twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
And that was this week's edition of Movie by Framer
Bar And.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
That's going to do it for another episode here of
the podcast but before I go, I got to give
my listeners shout out, which I do every single week.
This week, I am going over to my Facebook page,
which is Facebook slash Mike cadistro Or. I posted the
question I like to get your opinions on my topics
every single week as well. The question was what is
your favorite movie that takes place in the summer. My
(46:11):
shout outs come to me from the comments you have.
Ashley Kemper, who also agreed with the Sandlot, but also
throughout stand by Me, which probably should have made my
honorable mentions. Josh Yee said a goofy movie, which is
one of my favorite movies of all time. I think
if I hadn't just ran it about that movie in
a recent episode, it would have made my list. Maybe
(46:31):
because it's animated, it doesn't really speak to me in
the same way that some of the live action summer
movies do, even though that movie takes place after his
last day of school and one of the greatest road
trips of all time. And Susan Bye said Dirty Dancing.
But that is a movie I watched once and I
didn't really get it. I don't really get the iconicness
of Dirty Dancing except probably for that final scene, that
(46:55):
final dance number. Aside from that, that's not really a
movie that screams summer to me. So I will end
my thought on Dirty Dancing with that and anticipate all
the hate I will get in the comments and messages
in regards to that comment. So thank you for listening.
Hope you have a great rest of your week, and
until next time, go out and watch good movies and
I will talk to you later.
Host
Mike D
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