Camp rocks the summer

Sadly, summer is nearing its end, and soon we will all have to bid summer camp adieu and head back home and then--gasp--go back to school. But before we go, let's gather around the campfire one last time and sing songs that will forever consecrate our bonds of friendship and memories of this time we spent together.

Or, in the case of the movie Camp, sing songs from musicals to commemorate the sex, treason, treachery, cross dressing and the dozen or so musical productions that took place at Camp Ovation. Ovation is a theatre camp for high school students burning to take to the stage professionally, meaning the campers are all gay males or straight females. This summer, however, the presence of a straight male of the Justin Timberlake meets Ben Stiller variety named Vlad (Daniel Letterle) sends huge waves through the usual crowd of drama queens, drag queens, tomboys, soul sistas, burnouts and hadbeens.

The resulting plot fits the title in both senses of the word. The power dynamic between the girls vying for lead roles in productions and in getting the gorgeous, heterosexual Vlad into their arms--and legs--leads to ugly sabotage and eventually, cat fights of the most destructive variety. Even more enrapturing is the bizarre love triangle--square? pentagon?--formed by Vlad, every boy's little sister, Ellen (Joanna Chilcoat), and the flamboyantly flaming Michael (Robin De Jesus as possibly the best character in the movie), among others.

As the story progresses and the campers become more and more entagled with each other, their director (Don Dixon), an alcoholic writer who in recent years has put more emphasis on the former rather than the latter, gets fed up with the drama, exclaiming, "Who are you people? What planet did you beam down from?" In his tirade, he captures exactly what is so enticing and at the same time so exacting about theatre: "It's not normal what goes down here."

The whole film has the same senselessness and absurditiy of a high school musical production, heightened by all the trappings of a truly kitchy movie. It seesaws between the hilariously serious and the seriously hilarious, bringing up vague hints of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with better writing and employing both startlingly good acting and costumes, on and off the stage. Camp also has better singing than American Idol, though that's not saying much.

It does, however, have certain moments that bring it back to reality. For instance, it shows that even in theatre, swm--where the "s" stands for straight--can't dance. Despite playing into various stereotypes, Camp encourages people to challenge conventions and accept that trying to make weird people normal only serves to isolate them.

Camp is a must see for anyone who has been backstage or has ever wanted to boldy venture into the abnormal. A forewarning: you must be able to appreciate the line "God shave the queen!" to appreciate this movie.

Camp is rated PG-13, runs 114 minutes and is playing at Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema and Loews Cineplex Dupont.