Camp (2003)

A group of teenagers attend a summer theater camp called Camp Ovation where they put on several shows and concerts through out the summer. There's romances, rivalries and assorted "fun". Appalling! Hideous! Stunningly bad! Epic in its awfulness! This sick mutant child of FAME and GLEE (yes, I know GLEE wasn't in existence in 2003) is riddled with stereotypes (both ethnic and gay) and cliches to the point that you start groaning at every misstep. But hey, I could deal with the cliches and stereotypes if it weren't for the bogus screenplay, inept direction and amateurish performances. One can put up with the amateurishness of the musical performances, after all, these kids aren't supposed to be professionals. But with three exceptions, the amateurishness extends to the actors. One would be tempted to call them the dregs of their profession but that wouldn't be fair to them (still, there's no excuse for Robin DeJesus' irredeemably bad performance). No one could surmount the hackneyed script, a sexed up version of those Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland "let's put on a show" musicals. The exceptions are Alana Allen, Patrick Cubbedge and no surprise, Anna Kendrick (UP IN THE AIR) who miraculously resemble actual human beings. One musical number, Turkey Lurkey Time from PROMISES PROMISES is actually pretty good. The blame for this stinker falls squarely on its writer/director Todd Graff.