There is a lot of bad acting, in a good way, in Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s deeply charming and very funny mockumentary, set at a theatre camp in upstate New York. Gordon and Ben Platt play two teachers who met at the camp years ago and became best friends. Just as the summer’s cohort of jazz-handing theatre kids is about to descend, the camp’s redoubtable owner (Amy Sedaris) is dazzled by strobe lights and goes into a coma. This leaves the entire operation in the hands of her tech-bro son (Jimmy Tatro), who drawls that he’s “never really vibed” with the camp, but is just about bright enough to realise it’s in deep trouble with the bank.
As he tries to sort out the mess, the few staff members he hasn’t fired get on with teaching their charges how to become true thespians. One of the many pleasures of the film is that the kids in it actually look like kids, not short 24-year-old actors wearing braces; and they aren’t bratty. They all throw themselves with disarming intensity into their chosen metiers (one tiny boy already fancies himself a big-time agent), and seem generously unaware of the camp’s tattiness.
It’s a zippy 90 minutes or so, and packed with jokes. Gordon is note perfect as Rebecca-Diane, the camp’s folksy music teacher. She floats around in long cardigans and belted dresses, looking diffusely arty and compassionate, but takes her work terrifyingly seriously. “This will break you,” she warns the children in rehearsals for the end-of-camp play. “This will fully destroy you.”
Gordon is amply supported: Ayo Edebiri is enjoyably dry as a chancer who has doctored her CV to get a job leading mime and stage fighting workshops, and Nathan Lee Graham brings unexpected poignancy as an exacting dance tutor. Patti Harrison provides a gratifyingly loathsome hate-figure too, playing an investor plotting to close the camp. But the sense of peril never feels too great, which is a relief, as it might have marred this film’s loveliness and heart, its sunny soul.
Theater Camp is released on 25 August in UK and Irish cinemas, and on 7 September in Australian cinemas.
