Cram Wet Hot American Summer and But I'm a Cheerleader into a musty cabin for a few weeks, hire Stephen Sondheim as a counselor, and you get Camp, a sometimes witty but unnecessarily long comedy that does for musicals and the people who love them what Best In Show did for dog fanatics.  [Editor's note:  The author of this review is a straight male who likes musicals about as much as he likes Kate Hudson films, and knows as much about them as he does rocket science, so a lot of humor may have flown right over his dumb hetero head.]

Camp is set in Upstate New York's Camp Ovation, which is the place to go if you're young and fantasize about Broadway stardom.  In other words, it's a place where the sports counselor is incredibly bored, if you catch my drift.  The story follows a very familiar trajectory despite focusing on a half-dozen characters.  There's New Hot Straight Boy (Daniel Letterle) who can't choose between Ugly Duckling Fag Hag (Joanna Chilcoat) and Slutty Blonde (Alana Allen) With Parker Posey Lite Sidekick (Anna Kendrick).  There's also Cross-Dressing Justin Guarini Clone With Bad Skin (Robin de Jesus) and Fat Girl With Jaw Wired Shut (Tiffany Taylor), who are each looking to earn respect from their parents.  And there's Washed-Up Drunk-Slash-One-Hit Wonder Turned Reluctant Leader of Ragtag Kids (Don Dixon), who constantly lives in the shadow of his former glory.

Writer-director Todd Graff, who used to be a counselor at a similar camp, fills his cast with talented novices, which makes Camp seem like Fame for a new generation.  But I don't mean that in a good way.  Graff also pads his running time with a lot (about 20 minutes) of stuff that just doesn't need to be in there.  Again, the humor and your ability to appreciate it will be based on your expertise in the field of musicals...or the enjoyment you might derive from watching Fame.

1:54 -

for mature thematic elements regarding teen sexual issues, and some language