Summer is in full swing and that means one thing for many kids across the country, summer camp! Some of our favorite memories of childhood happened when weren’t getting poison ivy at camp. If you're yearning for that kind of nostalgia, here are the best summer camp movies.
Meatballs (1979)
You have to start any list of the best summer camp movies with the Bill Murray classic, Meatballs. It not only launched Murray’s career as a film star, but also marked the first time the SNL star teamed up with director Ivan Reitman. Murray and Reitman’s partnership proved to be one of the funniest in movie history, adding Stripes and Ghostbusters over the next five years after this comedy.
The world of comedy in the 1980s would have looked very different if Meatballs never happened. Despite being about kids, it does carry an R-rating because it’s, well, classic Murray and Reitman. Plus, it’s just a classic underdog tale about the slightly shabby camp taking on the rich-kid camp across the lake.
The Parent Trap (1961 And 1998)
It’s pretty rare that a remake be as beloved as the original, but that is the case with 1961’s The Parent Trap starring Hayley Mills and the Lindsay Lohan-led remake from 1998. Neither movie takes place exclusively at camp, but when two twins separated at birth meet at summer camp and realize they are sisters, the hijinks begin, so it definitely counts here. This is a pair of movies that work great as a double feature for the whole family to enjoy.
If we’re getting down to it, the original is still the best. It’s not nearly as dated as you would think, either. In fact, the ‘90s one feels a little more dated somehow, but both are still really fun movies that everyone walks out of happy, even if not everything makes sense.
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Another stone-cold summer camp classic is the rauchy teen comedy Wet Hot American Summer, which owes a lot to Meatballs. The movie is mostly about the counselors (and the amount of partying and sex they have). It was written by and stars Michael Showalter, who wrote it as a spoof of classic ‘80s comedies, but despite being very similar to those movies in tone, Wet Hot American Summer is rated R, unlike many of its ‘80s counterparts.
It also has a now-legendary cast including including Janeane Garofalo, the fantastic Paul Rudd, David Hyde Pierce, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Christopher Meloni, and Elizabeth Banks, not to mention Bradley Cooper in his first film role. The movie has become such a huge cult classic that it launched its own mini franchise with two 8-episode series on Netflix a few years ago.
Friday The 13th (1980)
Friday the 13th is the slasher film that redefined the genre in the ‘80s. This one is like the anti-Parent Trap and certainly not suitable for all ages. What more can really be said about the summer camp horror flick that hasn’t been already? Ghost stories have always been a key component of a great camp experience and the tale of Jason Voorhees (and his mother) is still haunting campers today, more than 40 years later. It doesn’t hurt that the franchise, like Jason, keeps coming back from the dead.
The movie holds up remarkably well; it's full of jump scares and, of course, the legendary plot twist at the end is inspired by Alfred Hitchcock himself. While it is still rated R, it’s not nearly as gory as slasher films would get in the ensuing decades, and the violence, while not…campy…isn’t quite Saw-level either.
Heavyweights (1995)
One trope that would be expected on this list would be “kids v. adults” set in a camp. Filling that role here is Heavyweights, starring Ben Stiller as a psychopathic fitness instructor who buys a “fat camp” and turns what was once a fun and rewarding place into the camp from hell. Stiller’s character is kind of like a cross between his psycho orderly in Happy Gilmore and Derek Zoolander.
It’s good clean family fun, and really fun to watch a young Kenan Thompson as one of the campers. It’s not the best movie on this list, but it’s great for kids, and Stiller’s performance is fantastic. His father, Jerry Stiller, also makes an appearance as the the former owner of the camp that everyone loved, so Seinfeld fans have something to celebrate, too.
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Wes Anderson movies can be polarizing, but it’s impossible not to love Moonrise Kingdom. In true Wes Anderson style, the movie is about two awkward kids who find love at Camp Ivanhoe. Rated PG-13, it’s exactly what anyone would want out of a summer camp movie and it stars a who’s who of Anderson collaborators, including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton, plus Bruce Willis in a memorable role.
Anderson fans tend to be completists, so on the off chance you haven’t seen this one, you’re missing out. It’s actually one of his sweeter stories, but it has all the quirkiness and oddball characters that he’s become known for.
Poison Ivy (1985)
No, no, this isn’t the weird almost-soft-core-porn-movie starring Drew Barrymore from the 1990s that’s not about summer camp at all. This Poison Ivy is a much more innocent made-for-TV family flick starring an about-to-be-even-more-famous Michael J. Fox. The movie first aired on NBC in February of 1985. For some context, Back to the Future came out just six months later, launching Fox’s career into the stratosphere.
It’s also great for fans of ‘80s TV, as it sees him trying to get Facts of Life star Nancy McKeon, a fellow counselor, to fall in love with him. It’s like one of those crossover episodes that got popular in the ‘80s and '90s. They might not be playing Alex and Jo, but it’s fun to pretend they would fall in love, right?
Ernest Goes To Camp (1987)
You might be saying to yourself, “Why?" Why did we include Ernest Goes To Camp on this list of the best? The truth is, it’s actually pretty funny if you’re in the right mood. Yeah, it’s cheaply made, and over the years, Jim Varney’s character, Ernest P. Worrell, became very cliche, but this was the movie that started it all.
This was the first full feature for ol’ Ernest, and the physical comedy from Varney really is something to behold. If you're a fan of movies like Home Alone, this really should be right up your alley. It’s also worth to just to see the birth of one of the strangest franchises in film history.
It Takes Two (1995)
To read the description, you’d think It Takes Two is some sort of off-brand Parent Trap, and, let’s be real here, it kind of is. It stars the Olsen Twins, Ashley and Mary Kate, as girls from different sides of the track who meet at summer camp and hatch a plan to switch places. Sound familiar? The twist is that they aren’t actually twins in the movie. They aren’t related at all.
Getting more real: it’s not high art, but it is a lot of fun and it’s a movie kids are sure to enjoy. It’s innocent and playful; it doesn’t challenge viewers, but it doesn’t insult them, either. This is a great movie to watch as a family, or, honestly, a great one to have on in the background as you do stuff around the house on a Sunday afternoon.
Indian Summer (1993)
I think most people who went to summer camp get nostalgic about wanting to return as an adult. Indian Summer is just that movie. In it, we can all see ourselves and what we might do when confronted with the good, the bad, and the ugly of our adolescence at camp. The mistakes we made as kids, the exes we never quite got over, and what could happen if we follow our dreams.
The film has an all-star cast, including the late Alan Arkin, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Pollack, and Bill Paxton, who blend the joy of summer camp as a kid, with the harsh realities of adulthood magically and it’ll make anyone tear up with a little nostalgia of those summers in the woods.
Bonus: Addams Family Values (1993)
Addams Family Values isn’t about summer camp, per se, but it does have one of the best summer camp subplots on film. Camp Chippewa for Privileged Children is about as trope-y as a camp can get, which of course means Wednesday (Christina Ricci) is pretty much completely disgusted. While the camp coordinators, played brilliantly by Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski, attempt to get her acclimated by forcing her to watch wholesome movies in the “Harmony Hut,” Wednesday is just too smart for them.
As might be predictable, she, along with the help of her brother Pugsly, captures the saccharine directors and lights the camp on fire, stealing a van in the process, which is probably what earned the movie its PG-13 rating. There is one bright spot for the dark Wednesday, as she finds love at camp with another nerdy outcast named Joel. Even the weirdest among us have their first kiss at camp.
Unlike Indian Summer, most of us can’t go back to camp, but we can relive those glory days through the eyes of others. If you can’t make it back, and if you’ve binged all these, there are plenty of other family-friendly movies still coming out this summer that you can check out.
