Film / News
Are you ready for Wet Hot American Summer?
As UK premieres go, it’s fairly late. Fifteen years late, to be precise. But the 2001 satirical American romcom Wet Hot American Summer finally reaches a UK screen in the unlikely surroundings of Windmill Hill City farm on Saturday 9 July. The screening is organised by the Standup Picture Show as part of an al fresco evening that includes live comedy performances. For Cube programmer and Standup Picture Show organiser Dave Taylor-Matthews, this is the culmination of a single-minded and possibly quite bonkers two-year mission to secure screening rights to the film.
Why all the fuss? A US box office flop on release, this slyly subversive send-up of teen sex comedies is set during the last day of the fictional, dysfunctional Camp Firewood summer camp in 1981. This is a place where campers die meaninglessly, counsellors get hooked on heroin, and everyone’s desperate to have sex. Way ahead of its time, the film secured a cult following on DVD over the years and inspired a Netflix prequel series. It also boasts a terrific cast. Back then, the (relatively) big names were Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce. But lurking further down the cast list you’ll find a pre-Parks and Regulation Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd before he hooked up with Judd Apatow and even a fresh-faced Bradley Cooper in his debut film role, twelve years before he received his first Oscar nomination.
The City Farm is being transformed into Camp Firewood for the evening, with the film on screen at around 9.30pm. But the chuckling commences at 8pm with live comedy from frequent Daniel Kitson collaborator Gavin Osborn and whimsical storyteller Sam Schafer, hosted by Alice Taylor-Matthews. There’s also the possibility of a very special guest whose name we’re not permitted to reveal yet. Advance tickets, price £8, are available now from Bristol Ticket Shop. Admission on the door will be £10.
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