Theatre Camp

In cinemas now

Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s quaint directorial debut offers a tongue-in-cheek satire of the weird and wonderful world of musical theatre, specifically the avowed practitioners of it whose devotion is not reciprocated with critical or commercial success.

Gordon and Lieberman’s screenplay, co-written with Ben Platt and Noah Galvin, is focused on a collective of oddballs who work at a cheap and cheerful theatre camp that, despite its popularity, is at risk of foreclosure. For the most part, Theatre Camp serves as a celebration of people’s quirks and differences, due in no small part to the comedic work of a delightful ensemble cast (although the underuse of The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri is unforgivable) and its original soundtrack.

However, there are aspects of the film that do not work so well. For one, the ‘mockumentary’ style adopted by Gordon and Lieberman doesn’t entirely gel with the tone of Theatre Camp’s narrative, mostly because the film lacks a defined lead character. This makes for a mostly unaffecting, but fitfully entertaining, viewing experience, which is a shame because the high points are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny.

Some viewers will undoubtedly find plenty to love about Theatre Camp, but its hard to shake the notion that there is a better film within it somewhere.