Summer Camp (2024)

Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard could make a grocery list sing, and Summer Camp hands them something pretty close to one. Critics gave it an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, a grade any camp counselor would call a learning experience. The setup fits on a name tag. Nora (Keaton), Ginny (Bates) and Mary (Woodard) spent every childhood summer together at sleepaway camp, then grown-up life scattered them. A reunion back at the old camp brings all three home, each with a very different level of excitement about it. Castille Landon writes and directs, and she fills the cabins with familiar faces, Eugene Levy, Dennis Haysbert and Beverly D’Angelo among them. That’s a lot of talent for a story with this little in its backpack. Critics compared the experience to summer school, and audiences handed it a C CinemaScore. A 2.6 because three legends deserved more than a lukewarm camp brochure. $6,396 says you look up adult summer camps tonight and get as far as the photo of the bunk beds.

What works: Keaton, Bates and Woodard are a dream trio on paper, and the supporting bench of familiar faces is deep.

What doesn’t: The comedy is thin and flat, and the reunion story never builds into anything with real stakes or real laughs.

Who it’s for: Devoted fans of the three leads who will watch them in anything, ideally on a lazy afternoon with low expectations.