Ah yes, the years of summer camp. Intermingling with kids from other schools and being lead around by adults you pray you'll never see again. Ridiculous activities designed to test your exuberance and stupid prizes that end up in the trash as soon as mom and dad see them. This coming of age comedy explores all that, adding in the twist of some of the camp counselors being high school students and their efforts to get laid over the summer.Not quite leading the group is Bill Murray in his film debut, combining his trade work silliness and mentoring a pre-teen kid desperate to fit in. Murray may be the only name star in this film, but there's interesting casting for the typical archetypes you see in pretty much every film like this. Harvey Atkin, a veteran actor I've never heard of, plays the much put upon and harassed camp head, the way too serious older man, perfectly fitting the description of camp worker that I prayed I'd never see again.At times, the film becomes a touching memory of the style of Saturday matinée I grew up with, combining the fads and attitudes of my high school years, the perfect summer movie. Some of these characters might not be relatable to younger generations due to changes in acceptable cultural behaviors. I would like to have seen more moments between Murray and the sensitive young kid, and less focus on the overly hormoned teens. More exploration of the great outdoors would have opened up possible laughs at the expense of these slobs dealing with nature.

Having just watched Meatballs I was struggling to decipher what this film was trying to be or what it was trying to say; clearly it has a coming-of-age aspect to its story, but it's given very little focus or development. It's also clearly a film about the trials and tribulations of a bunch of youths whilst they're at a summer camp whilst they are being mentored by their crazy leader Tripper (Bill Murray).The problem with this film is that it has no definitive structure and no coherent plot line; it moves from scene to scene and from person to person but never in a way where it feels as though a story is being told - it felt like I was watching a series of goofball sketches lazily edited together rather than an actual story. Up until about the 60 minute mark the film doesn't seem to have any kind of point (although to be fair it does establish one in its final third) but to be honest I found myself kind of bored; nearly all of the characters are boring clichés that unfortunately remain this way throughout the film - there never seems to be any revealing moments or irony with any of these characters making them feel rather dull and one-dimensional.There is one interesting aspect of the story (involving the bond between Rudy and Tripper) which is quite endearing, but it's never really given the attention that it deserves and sadly Reitman seems more interested in creating several chaotic and random moments which never seem to manifest themselves into any kind of story and many of these moments seemed to serve little purpose.When I looked at this film I was actually hoping that it would be similar to Animal House but the thing with Animal House is that it was silly but funny whereas Meatballs is silly without being funny and that's the key difference. There were no big laughs on offer at all and very few small laughs (the only thing I found mildly amusing was the scene where they strap Monty to his bed and leave him outside strapped to the bed overnight).One thing that is great about this film is Bill Murray and he does bring this dreck to the life whenever he is on screen. Granted he does overact occasionally, but in fairness he probably felt obliged to because nobody else seemed to be making much of an effort.The film has a nice feel good ending to it (albeit a predictable one), but truthfully Meatballs isn't a particularly fun film to sit through and its 'Are you ready for the summer' theme song is pretty annoying as well.

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.

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.