Meatballs
Meatballs
PG | 28 June 1979 (USA)
Meatballs Trailers

Tripper is the head counselor at a budget summer camp called Camp Northstar. In truth, he's young at heart and only marginally more mature than the campers themselves. Tripper befriends Rudy, a loner camper who has trouble fitting in. As Tripper inspires his young charges to defeat rival Camp Mohawk in the annual Olympiad competition, Rudy plays matchmaker between Tripper and Roxanne, a female counselor at Northstar.

Reviews
Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
Paul Vincent (movieswithpaul) They don't make them like this anymore and movies are all the worse for it. A fun story, a good cast and most of all a real sense of FUN. Something truly missing from comedies made today. Now it's like a sitcom with dirty jokes. I almost expect a laugh track. Bill Murray was on his game in this film, and his manic energy propels the entire production. There have seen many who have imitated it, but this remains the original classic.
SnoopyStyle It's a new summer at Camp North Star for kids from six to fourteen. Morty "Mickey" Melnick runs the camp and Tripper Harrison (Bill Murray) is the irreverent senior counselor. He keeps flirting with fellow lead counselor Roxanne. Spaz is one of the CITs (counselor in training). Rudy Gerner (Chris Makepeace) is a lonely kid who doesn't fit in. He and Tripper form a close connection. They have been beaten by neighboring Camp Mohawk for the last 12 years. In the annual competition, they are getting crashed by the cheating Camp Mohawk on the first day. They rally with Tripper's sarcastic chant "It just doesn't matter."This movie suffers from a lack of solid secondary actors. Murray is doing his utmost. He and Makepeace provide the heart. Spaz and his chubby friend have a few moments. Most of the rest are simply amateurs unable to deliver the jokes. For example, Roxanne needs to be either hot or funny. The actress is neither. Matt Craven is probably the only one out of that group who would go on to do more stuff. Director Ivan Reitman does his best with who he had. It's a small Canadian production that is most important for bringing together Reitman and Murray early in their careers. It's cute innocent fun.
AaronCapenBanner Nostalgic and funny comedy has Bill Murray playing Tripper, a wacky summer camp counselor who, when he isn't trying to romance all the female counselors, is trying to help a sad boy(Chris Makepeace) who doesn't want to be there, and who isn't popular. Also features other assorted characters like "Spaz" for instance. Then there is the rival summer camp where the rich kids go, and whom Tripper badly wants to show up.This could have been just another crass, predictable comedy, but this has a surprising amount of heart and empathy, and by the end, you may get just as misty eyed about it being over as the campers! Of course, all the viewer has to do is replay the DVD.
Karl Self I knew little about Meatballs except that it had Bill Murray in it, Ivar Reitman was directing, Wikipedia said that it was considered "raunchy in its day", so overall I was expecting a wacky gross-out comedy on camp life with plenty of hijinks and wet T-shirts. Instead it is a surprisingly muted, realistic and sentimental ode to the humble summer camp. In a subplot, Murray acts as an elder brother-type role model to a troubled camper, which in turn helps him to ground himself. This works surprisingly well, is less eerie than it might sound, and seems strangely antiquated by today's standards, where movies have become much more edgy and cynical. Although there is plenty of slapstick comedy, the pace is relatively slow.What really struck me was how natural the actors in this film are. They look like real counselors and campers. Especially Roxanne, the movie's sweetheart, is pretty but not catwalk material. That was a pretty audacious choice on the part of the film makers.Overall: nice film. Could have done with a few more jokes, though.