Metrograph

The editing might not be the first thing you think of when you think of Wet Hot American Summer—more likely it’s Paul Rudd’s pronunciation of the word “journal” or one of a thousand other howlers—but it’s thanks to Meg Reticker’s deft hand that the film’s various plates keep spinning so effortlessly and comedy, as we know, is all about timing. It’s the last day at Camp Firewood in summer of 1981, with a “big culminating, climactic game against evil Camp Tigerclaw” coming up, and on hand for the fun are an all-timer ensemble cast including Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Molly Shannon, David Hyde Pierce, Ken Marino, Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Banks… in fact, just about every talented comic actor in the United States of America at the turn of the century. You could call it “The Ultimate,” but that of course refers to something else.

Q&A with editor Meg Reticker moderated by Mollie Goldstein, ACE on Friday, August 22nd

Distributor: Universal