Brad Renfro, Dominique Swain, Emily Bergl

Writer-director Daniel Waters's hilarious teen sex romp stars Brad Renfro and Dominique Swain as a pair of randy camp counselors in charge of an out-of-control summer camp. With the camp director side...( read more  read more... )lined by injury and no one to supervise, the sex-crazed freshman counselors have their run of the place, and it's not long before the camp devolves into a hormonal hotbed of chaos.

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57% liked it

3,838 ratings

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57% liked it

7 critics

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Directed by: Daniel Waters

Release Date: January 21, 2001

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DVD Release Date: June 18, 2002

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Flixster Reviews (166)


  • June 28, 2008
    ~Brad buddy, R.I.P. Heroin kills~
  • January 21, 2008
    Every once in a while, there comes a movie that tries to reivindicate a genre that's considered lost into clichés and bad movies after bad movies. One of the genres where this happens the most is in the so-called "teen movies". For every single "American Pie" there's a "Thirteen"...( read more), for every single "Road trip" there's a "Brick", an "Elephant", a "Duck season", a "Mean creek"... one of the always awful subgenres of "teen movies" is the disgusting, almost unbearable world of "summer camp movies"... the number of movies that take place in these hell-holes (by the look of all of those movies) is extreme and keeps growing each year but it was in the 90s when it was just unstoppable. It was like a really stupid campaign to get even more kids into these camps, from "Heavy Weights" to "Parent trap" and all the slasher movies, it was just about time to cry out loud: ENOUGH! and so the 90s ended, youth was now into violence and teenagers killing other teenagers and sex... way more sex. Then, in 2002, it was turn for a visit to an old friend: the freakin summer camp. The cast of "Happy Campers" was unbelievable (as my face could've tell when I found the movie on TV): Brad Renfro in his good years, Peter Stormare and newcomers-back-in-the-day Jamie King and Justin Long... I mean, what the hell? Right? And so the movie began. One extremely raw surprise after another, one good turn after another, one hell-of-a-great performance after another. Daniel Waters, the director, doesn't fear clichés, he uses them to not only make fun of a walking cliché (summer camp) and a terrible bunch of movies that came with that subject: he embraces the clichés of the genre to create something unique, something raw and unexpected... something trully ORIGINAL. Sex, sex and more sex, but not only between horny teenagers but the first approaching of a bunch of KIDS to sexuality without censorship of stupid morality but truth and intelligence. "Happy campers" also speaks about LIFE and what sucks about it with such an excellent narrative and a flawless dialogue after another. The plot is carried by the characters which results into a fast-paced, yet careful movie-experience. It is, then, the ultimate summer-camp movie, as it is the ONLY intelligent, truthful summer-camp movie because it doesn't want to show you "how summer camp really is" but how kids and teenagers-becoming-adults really are. It's probably one of the few movies I've ever seen to really capture every single doubt, desire, dream and crazyness in a 10-y-o mind or a 18-y-o heart... Really, really, trully underrated. Brad Renfro's best after "Bully"... Justin Long's best after "Galaxy Quest"... and Jamie King's best BY WAAAY TO FAR! What ever happened to Dominique Swain, btw?? And Peter Stormare... well... I'll stick to "Fargo" and "Constantine" for now...
  • October 2, 2009
    During the first few minutes when they were introducing all the characters, I thought the girls' characters very much resembled the girls from The Babysitter`s Club and the boys were forgettably generic. As the show went on, you come to realise that there is no real plot to this ...( read more)story.

    Like a real summer camp, people just did what they did - made new friends, fell in love, did crazy things and had new experiences. If you like or connect with any of the characters, you`ll be able to look at this as a quirky growing pains kind of teen relationships movie. If you don`t care for anyone, not even a favourite actor or something, then it`s a bit slow and meaningless.
  • January 18, 2009
    Teen movie with the usual stereotypes - The good religious girl, the outcast, the gay guy etc. I mostly watched this because of Renfro and Swain
  • September 24, 2008
    very good movie and funny
  • August 16, 2008
    funny, lovely.
    muy entretenida si se toma por lo que es.. una deliciosa comedia adolescente
  • April 9, 2008
    Justin fkn Long...
    When will he leave the film-medium alone!!?!??
  • March 10, 2008
    i did love this movie it has a lot of cast members i like
  • March 5, 2008
    hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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