by I’m going to get some crap for this one.
Way back when I was a kid, my uncle got a VCR. And every afternoon he would go to our small-town video store and pick up a movie to watch. My cousin and I would get to watch along, and one of those movies we watched back then was Meatballs. It’s been many years since I’ve watched it so I thought I would give it another go.
The story centers around a summer at low-budget Camp North Star and all of the hijinks and romance that takes place at summer camps involving the counsellors. The eventual plot of the movie becomes the rivalry between Camp North Star and the more affluent Camp Mohawk. The climax comes in the form of a two-day competition between the two camps where Camp North Star outsmarts their rivals to win in the end.
It strives to be a comedy, and in its time, it probably was. Unfortunately, the humor just doesn’t hold up for me all these years later. I mean, it’s ok, but there’s nothing laugh-out-loud funny about it. It’s possible that is the result of me seeing so many times when I was younger.
Billy Murray tries hard, and again, maybe in its time, it was funny, but it just didn’t do it for me this time around. I wish I could say more glowing things about it, but it was just kind of there, you know? It was a major hit in it’s time for sure, as for a while it held the distinction of being the highest grossing Canadian film of all-time in both the US and Canada.
It may be ok as a historical curiosity if you want to check it out, but otherwise, I call it a pass.
1.0 out of 5.0 stars