Summer camp classics stir nostalgia
Whether you actually spent your summers growing up at camp, or just watched the awkwardness of first kisses and irresponsible counselors from the comfort of your own home, we all know that summer camp is something, well, unique. As an ode to what may have been the best, or worst, years of your youth, we’ve compiled a list of 10 classic summer-camp movies to make you feel nostalgic. While they might not shine the most truthful light on the summer camp experience, what fun would it be to watch two hours of kids swimming in cold pools and eating grilled cheese sandwiches? Instead, these films exaggerate all the hilarity summer camps have to offer and give a much funnier look into your past. Get ready to time travel to years of braces and growth spurts, here we go.
“Camp Nowhere” (1994): When a group of kids don’t want to continue with their usual summer plans, they devise a way to have the best summer ever: creating a fake camp for themselves. After renting a campground and exploiting a teacher to act as their counselor, camp is in session – until their parents want to visit. Think “Accepted” (2006), but the summer-camp version.
“Fired Up!” (2009): Though it’s not your classic summer camp, this cheer camp-inspired flick will have you waving your pom-poms. Watch as football stars Nick and Shawn ditch training camp for what they hope to be an easy girl-filled summer at cheerleading camp, until one of the boys actually falls for the team captain.
“The Parent Trap” (1998): It’s impossible to tell the difference between twins Annie James and Hallie Parker (well, maybe because they’re both Lindsay Lohan) in this remake, but one thing that’s for sure is that this is the epitome of summer camp movies. We’ve all seen it, can all quote it, and this what we imagine summer camp to be like. When two divorced parents send their daughters to the same camp, the girls discover what they’ve been missing their entire lives: each other. After figuring out they share a birth date, meaning they in fact are twins, the girls decide to switch parents after leaving camp. There’s nothing like this classic movie to get you in your summer feels.
“Moonrise Kingdom” (2012): This Wes Anderson film will have you thinking back to your first crush. Suzy and Sam have fallen in love at age 12, like we all do at camp, right? They decide to run away together, but a storm approaches, leading a group of wacky adults to send out a search party for the kids.
“Wet Hot American Summer” (2001): The most hyperbolic of summercamp movies. Watch irresponsible counselors do what they do best: not watch their kids and mess around. This classic summer-camp film is full of stars before they became household names, including Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler and Bradley Cooper, to name a few. People missed the hilarious movie so much that it took off as a Netflix series in 2015.
“Friday the 13th” (1980): Yes, it’s an exaggeration, and most summer camps find this kind of horror being told only around a campfire, but “Friday the 13th” still embodies many classic camp elements. The original film, which eventually turned into a franchise, follows a group of counselors who set up camp at a rumored “cursed” lake where a boy drowned years prior. This doesn’t deter the group from spending time in the woodsy area, until they realize the superstitions were real and Crystal Lake isn’t so safe after all.
“Camp Rock” (2008): Maybe you performed in all your camp musicals, or you really just love listening to the old Jo Bros and Demi Lovato sing; either way, “Camp Rock” is right for you. This Disney Channel original tells the story of a teenage girl who can’t wait to get her musical start at rock camp, but has to work in the kitchen if she wants to get there. But when pop sensation Joe Jonas hears her singing, he wants to help her get to the spotlight. An all around feel-good movie, and a great sing-along.
“It Takes Two” (1995): You might think you’re seeing double, but unlike “The Parent Trap,” there’s no editing involved to deceive you – it’s just twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who looked uncannily alike in their youth. When rich girl Alyssa meets orphaned tomboy Amanda at summer camp, the two decide to switch identities and help their caregivers fall in love. Though it’s a little hard to suspend disbelief and accept that these two girls are only lookalikes, and not related, the silliness of the movie and the young Olsens’ cuteness factor mostly make up for it.
“Meatballs” (1979): In this Canadian camp classic, Bill Murray heads a group of counselors-in-training as they play pranks, look for romance, and, of course, battle it out with a nearby rival camp. A summer camp movie wouldn’t be complete without odd nicknames and the journey for campers to find themselves, and “Meatballs” checks all the boxes.
“Ernest Goes to Camp” (1987): When a summer camp handyman dreams of becoming a counselor, he has to prove that he can insipre a group of kids first. The comedy follows Ernest, who takes a group of juvenile delinquents under his wing and saves the camp from being taken over and forced to close. Don’t we all love to root for the underdog?