What's supposed to be a summer of cookouts, make outs and frivolity turns into more humdrum teenage angst in Camp, a film so pointless you'd wish all these kids had been stuck in summer school instead. Sent to Camp Ovation in upstate New York, each child tries to sharpen his or her acting and singing skills in the hopes of one day reaching the Broadway stage.
They're all misfits here: gay boys who memorize Sondheim lyrics, lonely girls who yearn for companionship and counselors forced to act as stage directors. Writer-director Todd Graff based the film from his experience at Stagedoor, a camp whose alumni include Robert Downey Jr., Mandy Moore and Natalie Portman. While those celebs made it to the big time (and in Downey's case, the big house) none of Camp's youngsters will wet a casting director's whistle. Or get you excited about this film.