Greetings,
When we are youngsters, there are many things that can prepare us for our adult lives. Even the people in the world of TV movies do their part to help out. Occasionally, we would get one of their movies aimed to a younger crowd, and, in September of 1990, we got Camp Cucamonga. Yeah, I don't know why they aired a movie about summer camp in September either, but let's just try and have fun with this one.
Camp Cucamonga was one of those star studded movies with all the television luminaries of the day that they could gather. And, boy, was this one just chock full. Buckle your seat belts. I'm going to go through the list, telling you who is here and who they played. We'll get to the story later. This upcoming paragraph may be a long one.
Okay, first, we have John Ratzenberger of Cheers playing Marvin Schector, Dorothy Lyman, fresh from the finale of Mama's Family playing his wife, Millie, and Jennifer Aniston playing their daughter, Ava, who, at the time, was on some sad series based on Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Then, there was a counselor named Roger who was played by Brian Robbins of Head of the Class, who went on to produce pretty much every show on Nickelodeon and the CW. Let's move on to the campers, who are all teenagers being played by actual teenagers. I can't believe this came out the same year 90210 debuted. First, there's Candace Cameron from Full House playing the un-DJ Tanner-like Amber, Chad Allen, before Dr. Quinn and during My Two Dads, as Frankie, who actually has a lot of girls fighting over him in this. Then, we have two - count 'em!- two stars from The Wonder Years, Josh Saviano as Max, the camp nerd (that must have been tough) and Danica McKellar as Lindsay, a sort of goth girl who wears no make up, but she's got the 'tude and the heavy metal posters to prove it. We also get, Urkel from Family Matters himself, Jaleel White, as Dennis, not really a super-nerd in this one, and I must mention an actress named Tasha Scott who plays Jennifer. I don't know who the actress is, but she's playing one of the kids in the core group, so I had to say something and she's pretty good. There are also some other campers, but they're kind of not all that important, so the only one I'll mention is a pre-Clueless Breckin Meyer as a skateboard guy. It's like looking in a crystal ball on that one. Then, there's Sherman Hemsley, who was on Amen at the time, playing Herbert Himmel, a repairman, and, finally, my personal favorite, we have the character of Howard Sloan as portrayed by G. Gordon Liddy. I am not kidding about that. For you kids who don't know who that is, ask your parents or Google "Watergate". And that's it for the cast. Let's get the story, which will promise to be much less complicated.
It's summertime, and a group of excited kids are returning to, or coming to for the first time, Camp Cucamonga. It is run by Marvin Schector and his wife, Millie. Their daughter, Ava, is one of the counselors, and it only takes about five minutes into the movie for her to meet Roger, another counselor who is kind of a gigolo. She can't stand him, and I'm sure she won't have a change of heart, forcing them to end up together. Yeah. Anyway, the Schectors are concerned that they won't get camp accreditation, so they hired a repairman to fix things up before an inspector comes. I cannot see a single hijink coming from that. Certainly not when the repairman comes dressed in a suit because he came straight from a family wedding, and the inspector comes all dirty and disheveled because he had to change a flat tire on the way. Nope. I cannot see one ounce of confusion being spawned from that scenario. But what really keeps Col. Marv, as the youngsters call him, and his family going are the great kids at the camp. I told you who plays them; now I'll tell you a little more about who they are.
Like I said, there are six main characters, as far as the campers go. The kids returning after having been at camp the previous summer are these: Frankie, your typical blonde, popular, athletic guy, who has been reunited with his summer girlfriend, Amber, your typical blonde, popular "mean girl". Then, there's Max, a tall, skinny, not good at sports guy, who we still need, because we always need one of those, and Jennifer, the nice girl who is, for some reason, very good friends with the mean girl. Then, we have the newcomers in the group: Dennis, who is kind of a tiny, little ladies' man that makes friends quite easily, and Lindsay, who sooooo does not want to be at camp but her mom is forcing her to be there. Hmmm? I wonder if she'll eventually soften up and be friends with everyone. I do wonder.
This whole thing is filled to the brim with summer camp shenanigans from the kids, including the obligatory getting lost in the woods at night and their misbehavior amplifying the camp's problems. But they really are good kids at heart and want to help Col. Marv. So what do we get from the kids when they try to save the camp by making it look good? Remember, it's the early nineties, so they produce the one thing that always works when you're trying to bring down the man - a rap video! And it is FAN-TASTIC! The only thing more fantastic is the climax of the plot. It is complete with humiliation, an attempted escape from one of the campers, and a race to see if the kids will make it back to play in the very important baseball game! Do they succeed? Right! Like I'm going to spoil it for you! But I will tell you that it ends with the one thing on which all teen movies, and life itself apparently, end - a dance! What else!
Look, obviously, this movie is a serious cheese-fest, but when I watch it, I get a little enjoyment out of it, nostalgic, though it may be. It kind of reminds me of my childhood, and it is always fun to revisit those things that seemed so totally cool at the time but now just make us laugh. Hey, whatever works, I say, and makes us feel something other than sad! Right?
Oh, and this fun bit of television cinematic awesomeness is available on DVD! Buy, buy, buy!
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
