Wet Hot American Summer: Cult Camp Comedy

Wet Hot American Summer is a satirical comedy that follows counselors, staff and campers through the last day at a fictional Maine summer camp. It gleefully spoofs the teen sex comedies of that era, with plotlines that build toward a talent show. The ensemble cast is packed with familiar names — Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd and many future stars.

The film initially flopped, but it developed a devoted cult following, and it's easy to see why: the script by Michael Showalter and David Wain is full of absurd, rapid-fire gags. Wain drew on his own summers at Jewish summer camps in Ohio and Maine, giving the parody an affectionate, lived-in quality. The franchise continued with Netflix prequel and sequel series.