Meatballs

When summer came around when we were kids, my brother and I always wished that we could spend it in a summer camp. Granted none of the camps that we would have gone to were anything close to the camp in this movie. But if there were camps out there that were anything like this I'm sure they would have been shut down, yet it would have been fun. With the popularity of Bill Murray, and a cast of virtual unknowns, Ivan Reitman hit a homerun out of the park that to this day, even though it's a little dated, will put a smile on your face and make you laugh.The summertime is the time for friendships, fun in the sun and blossoming new love but at Camp North Star there are no rules, no boundaries, and more fun than you can swing a dead cat at. The jokes that are laid out in this film are so well placed and timed that the sequences that are setup for the actors are flawless. Where the entire film was shot on location at a real summer camp the feel of the movie is totally authentic and gives you the belief that this camp really exists. There are barely any true special effects in this film but that is the beauty of it, true honest reactions to what is truly going on in front of the actors. The one thing that happened to this film over time was that it was drawn into the neverending bad sequels. I believe that there were three sequels, each worst than the one before, that never captured the comedy or the magic that the first had.
The antics that go on here are so far beyond the norm that you can't help but enjoy yourself, some of the humor is a little crude but by today's standards its very mild. Murray's career blew up after this and from here on he was a comedic force to be reckoned with The genius teaming of Murray and Reitman was so obvious that it was only natural that they would go on and do other memorable hits together. Most likely everyone has seen this film at one time or another but its always good to be able to watch a movie that brings back the memories of summer as a kid, or at least ones that you wish you had.