Summerhood (2008): Dir: Jacob Medjuck, Tony Dean Smith / Cast: Scott Beaudin, Raquel Alessi, Jesse Cammacho, Joe Flaherty, Christopher McDonald: Independent summer teen camp comedy that reflects on those innocent days of yesteryear where the door is open just a crack for the next phase of life. Unfortunately this lacks the memorable characters and funny situations that rendered Meatballs such a popular summer comedy. The big issue that directors Jacob Medjuck and Tony Dean Smith heave at us is the romantic hints between underage characters. In reflection, most of us view summer camp at the age of these characters as being anything but parading after girls. Meatballs did this but it was between the counselors and their social hyjinks. It has the total opposite affect here and comes off as creepy as oppose to funny. It also doesn't help that none of these characters are remotely memorable. Even the presence of Joe Flaherty and Christopher McDonald cannot help breath new life into tired retreads. The kids have about as much life as the average store window mannequin. It fails to teach anything about growing up whereas Meatballs bore humour from experience. What we have here looks less impressive than your neighbor's vacation slides. Best advice is to watch Meatballs and try to lose the ugly memory of this drab film ever being in existence. Score: 1 / 10
Review of Summerhood
