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Review: 'Wet Hot American Summer,' sweet and funny as the original movie

If you don't find the idea of fondling sweaters hilarious, this is most likely not the TV review for you.

L-R: Zak Orth, Michael Showalter, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio and Nina Hellman in the Netflix original series “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp”. (Photo by: Saeed Adyani/Netflix)
L-R: Zak Orth, Michael Showalter, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio and Nina Hellman in the Netflix original series “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp”. (Photo by: Saeed Adyani/Netflix)Read more

If you don't find the idea of fondling sweaters hilarious, this is most likely not the TV review for you.

On Friday, Netflix will release eight episodes of Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, a prequel to the 2001 cult hit Wet Hot American Summer that starred Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, and Janeane Garofalo, among so many others, all of whom have returned to play younger versions of themselves.

Netflix has tried to resurrect beloved properties before, to mixed results. The fourth season of Arrested Development was odd and disappointing (but that won't stop it from making a fifth season). And who knows how the forthcoming Fuller House will fare? Sofans of Wet Hot, as it's affectionately known - and they are legion - waited with bated breath. Will infinitely quotable memories be sullied?

First Day of Camp does not disappoint - mainly because it's more of the same.

What First Day of Camp really demonstrates is how Wet Hot, a silly, sweet movie that no one saw in theaters, influenced TV comedy that came after it.

Let's be honest: The plot never mattered all that much. Wet Hot was absurd, first and last. Set on the last day of Camp Firewood in 1981, it was a loving spoof of camp movies, featuring all facets of the experience - summer love, camp rivalries, best friendships - but it's also entirely ridiculous. The climax hinged on a group of camp misfits, led by astrophysicist David Hyde Pierce and camp director Garofalo, diverting a wayward piece of NASA's Skylab, falling to earth at Camp Firewood's exact location.

Wet Hot was about embracing insanity, controlled or not. This was a movie in which a talking tin can (voiced by H. John Benjamin, who appears in human form in First Day of Camp) becomes the mentor of the PTSD-addled chef (Law & Order: SVU's Christopher Meloni). Accept things like that and Wet Hot becomes essential viewing.

What does matter is that First Day of Camp works in the serial TV format. Wet Hot felt like a series of intertwining vignettes to begin with - because it was born out of the sketches of a troupe called the State, which put out an absurd namesake MTV show from 1993 to 1995. The transfer to yet another format - sketch show to movie to episodic TV - works exceptionally well.

The action takes place on the day of the title. Writers Michael Showalter (who also stars as the lovelorn Coop) and David Wain (who directs and plays a new counselor who is from Israel) cleverly construct backstories for each character both big - Rudd's cool guy, Andy, Ken Marino's sex-obsessed Victor - and small (gum-snapping Abby Bernstein's origin is particularly inspired).

Showalter and Wain are smart not to mess with their essential formula. Arrested Development, reborn in 2013 after three beloved seasons on Fox, made the mistake of messing with one of its greatest assets, its delicate structure, in order to cater to the schedules of its now-famous cast. But one of the more impressive aspects of First Day of Camp is that every member of its cast returns, including Cooper, who could shoot for only one day. And it even adds new members, including The Good Wife's Josh Charles and Mad Men's Jon Hamm.

Here's where you see how Wet Hot and The State charted a path for some of the odder TV comedy to come. Consider how its cast has gone on to bigger and better things. Wet Hot's sweetness and optimism was apparent in the Poehler-starring Parks and Recreation. Poehler's über-type-A Suzy would have loved Poehler's über-type-A Leslie Knope. Much of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block can be traced back to Wet Hot's love of parody and the ridiculous. The beloved (and canceled) Starz comedy Party Down was structured around a comic ensemble, many of whom play parts in First Day of Camp, making their way through the day. Arrested Development's contained comedic world . . . the list goes on.

We're even luckier that Wet Hot does as well.

'Summer lovin'

Netflix has another summer-theme comedy planned for release: Staten Island Summer, written by "Weekend Update" host and Saturday Night Live head writer Colin Jost, clearly based on his upbringing.

The structure is achingly familiar: Danny (The Good Wife's Graham Phillips) narrates the story of the best summer of his life, working as a lifeguard before he heads to Harvard, and the way-out-of-his-league dream girl (Twilight's Ashley Greene) he attempts to woo along the way.

It brings to mind shades of Superbad, as Danny gets ready to part with his loud, chubby friend (Zack Pearlman). But there are also echoes of Porky's, American Pie, and Caddyshack (Fred Armisen doing his best Carl Spackler). Danny's goal is more innocent than that of the protagonists of most comic movies - he mainly wants to subvert his boss (Mike O'Brien) and throw the best party ever - but his journey is also less funny.

Staten Island Summer is slight and familiar, featuring an excellent cast not used to the best of its ability. If anything, it shows that Jost's former "Weekend Update" cohost Cecily Strong, who plays tough-talkin' Mary Ellen, is ready for a role that suits her talents.

TELEVISION

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Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

All eight episodes premiere Friday on Netflix

Staten Island Summer

Premieres Thursday on Netflix

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215-854-5909

@mollyeichel