CALLERI: Adults attempt to revisit their past in ‘Summer Camp’ (2024)

Everybody has favorite movie stars they like above others. One of mine is Diane Keaton. I’ve always sought out her films, and I had an enjoyable experience interviewing her one-on-one for television. Keaton can be both strikingly dramatic and pleasurably quirky. She earned her Academy Award for playing the title character in writer-director Woody Allen’s masterful comedy, “Annie Hall.”

Of late, Keaton has appeared in a number of ensemble movies such as “Book Club,” “Poms,” “Maybe I Do,” and “Book Club: The Next Chapter.” She is currently on screen in “Summer Camp,” which is playing in theaters.

“Summer Camp” opens with a short prologue about teenage girls attending a seasonal camp in the woods for the first time. There’s a younger, awkward trio that includes Ginny, Mary, and Nora, all of whom are shuffled off to share a cabin called “Sassafras.” Naturally, they are targeted by a trio of beautiful mean girls.

The shy girls attended the same camp over a number of years and have remained friends. Time flies quickly, and the threesome are still pals into adulthood, but the friendship is less about hanging out with each other than it is about their staying in touch as best they can. Regular mail. Phone calls. Email. And eventually texting is how they connect.

The opportunity to get together arises when Camp Pinnacle, the location of their youthful summer reveries, announces its first-ever reunion. It’s now 50 years since the girls initially met.

The story jumps five decades and tosses the audience back to Camp Pinnacle in Flat Rock, North Carolina. This doesn’t happen without some cajoling of the other women by Ginny, who is now a very popular and wealthy author of self-help books. “Martha” is one of her real-world friends. Yes, as we will discover, it’s that Martha. Kathy Bates plays Ginny.

Mary, acted by Alfre Woodard, is a superb emergency room nurse, as well as a wife, mother, and grandmother. Nora, played by the aforementioned Keaton, is a widow, who is a successful research scientist and entrepreneurial CEO. She has absolutely no time for tomfoolery.

However, tomfoolery, relaxing, and enjoying themselves is exactly what Ginny wants. She eventually gets Mary and Nora into her hotel on wheels — a deluxe lecture and book-promoting tour bus. Once they arrive at the place where they all met those many years ago, we see that Ginny is now the camp’s star attraction. It seems that everyone has read her books.

Nora and Mary are impressed. Even the not-so-fondly remembered mean girls — bossed by Jane (Beverly D’Angelo) — are mightily impressed. Of course, they look remarkably young. After Nora asks, “How are they still so pretty?” Ginny responds, “Pilates and plastic.” It’s a good line and, coming as it does early in the movie, it’s a very promising line.

Of course, there are some former camping fellows, and carrying the burden are Stevie D (Eugene Levy) and Tommy (Dennis Haysbert). It turns out that girls and boys meeting cute as teens still triggers warm memories. It’s possible that “Summer Camp” may have some romance. As everyone settles into a routine, and their adventure as adults at camp begins to take shape, things start to wobble a bit. Is it really true that you actually can’t go home again?

The film takes a breath, which is fine, but after the respite, fault lines appear. Writer-director Castille Landon has a spectacular primary cast, a beautiful setting, and unlimited possibilities for storytelling. Therefore, why is it that nothing much is happening? It seems that Landon has nowhere to take us. She has literally missed the boat. Or, to put it in camping terminology, missed the kayak.

I laughed out loud a few times. I was delighted to see Keaton, Bates, and Woodard. However, I soon came to the realization that nothing much was going to shake the status quo. And, the status quo was dull.

There’s a camp employee named Jimmy, played by Josh Peck, who holds down myriad jobs, including events manager. Peck does the best that he can because his dialogue isn’t strong enough for the character he’s portraying. He needed to ad-lib more.

That written, the person who needed to ad-lib less is Betsy Sodaro, who plays Vick, a sort of security overseer. At least I think that’s what she was supposed to be. Sedaro plays Vick like a demented loon. I honestly have never seen anyone so ill-suited for a specific kind of movie as Sodaro is. She’s shrill, angry, and brutally weird without being wonderfully engaging. Her manic character repels you and is never inviting. It’s a wrongheaded performance. Director Landon should have reined her in.

Mid-way through “Summer Camp,” as scenes drifted in and out of our memory, there was an opportunity for at least a little bit of comedic redemption. We witnessed a strong and well-acted dramatic confrontation involving Mary (I won’t reveal with whom), but it was time for some genuine comic energy.

It was time for a dining hall food fight, and it arrived on schedule. Alas, the food fight in “Summer Camp” is a missed opportunity. I’ve seen a lot of food fights in movies, but this one is like limp, overcooked spaghetti. It lacks good laughs, and there’s not enough food. Hasn’t Landon seen “Animal House?” Or, hasn’t she seen what’s been called the greatest food fight ever put on film? That’s the pie-throwing battle in 1965’s “The Great Race.” Its pie fight took five days to complete using more than 4,000 pies filled with fruit, custard and whipped cream. The epic hilarity cost $18,000 for the pies alone. That would be $179,170 today.

“Summer Camp” is half of a good movie. It hopes to let the audience know that if need be, people can make positive changes in their lives. They can create a community, small or large, and enjoy the friendships it engenders.

I delighted in seeing Keaton, Bates, and Woodard interact. They are the film’s highlights. The actresses are so good, they really do deserve another chance. I’m well aware that it’s not a positive recommendation to write that I wasn’t bored, although I was a bit exasperated. With stars of this acting caliber, there has to be a gem somewhere for them as a trio. Magic time is indeed possible.

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