We’re wrapping up our third season of American Cinema Editors presents at Metrograph with a special August film, David Wain’s cult classic Wet Hot American Summer, with a Q&A to follow with the film’s editor Meg Reticker, moderated by Mollie Goldstein, ACE.
The 2001 comedy features an ensemble cast festuring Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper (his film debut) and Michael Showater, who wrote the screenplay with Wain.
The film takes place during the last full day at a fictional summer camp in 1981, and spoofs the sex comedies aimed at teen audiences of that era.
Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four. In contrast, Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman awarded the film an “A” and named it one of the ten best films of the year. Actress Kristen Bell stated on NPR on September 2, 2012, that Wet Hot American Summer was her favorite film, having watched it "hundreds of times."