It just officially became spring, but you can still look toward summer — or remember past summers in a haze of nostalgia — with the 2001 cult classic Wet Hot American Summer. This was my first time watching the film, and as the beginning credits rolled, I kept shouting out, “And there’s… Paul Rudd! And Amy Poehler! And Bradley Cooper! And Elizabeth Banks! And the guy whose friend broke up with Sarah Jessica Parker with a post-it on Sex and the City! (That would be actor Michael Showalter.)

The 2015 TV series spin-off, “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” stars the same actors from the 2001 film, which was set in 1981. So that makes actors who were already a decade too old to play their characters back when they filmed the movie in 2001, and now, 14 years later, they’re playing the same characters. Such is the realm of the absurd, Wet Hot American Summer-style.

It is a goofy film, one that is purposefully over-the-top and awesomely cheesy. My husband and I had a lot of fun watching Wet Hot American Summer, but you have to be in the right mood to enjoy it. (And even if you don’t have any actual memories of “summer camp,” surely you have nostalgic memories of watching movies about summer camp, right? If you enjoyed Meatballs, then you will enjoy this film!)

I’ve had Wet Hot American Summer on my Master List for awhile, for possibly featuring a reel librarian, and SPOILER ALERT, there’s no actual reel librarian. But there is a brief library scene, clocking in about 40 minutes into the film.

The context? The summer camp director, played by Jeanine Garofalo as Beth, is trying to impress Henry, a vacationing astrophysicist, played by David Hyde Pierce. She comes across Nancy, another camp counselor, who is sitting on a porch, knitting. Beth asks Nancy where she’d find a book on astrophysics.

Nancy’s dryly delivered response, “I’d have to say a bookstore… or a library.”

[Editor’s note:  Attagirl, Nancy!]

Beth tries and fails to look nonchalant (“Right… just curious.”).

The second after she scampers away, in runs Henry, who also stops to ask Nancy, “Say I wanted to get a book on… camp directing, I guess.”

Nancy’s incredulous expression and reply: “Henry, Henry, library.”

Next stop, the public library in Waterville, Maine.

Side note: There is a real Waterville, Maine, although the movie was filmed in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, at Camp Towanda. And you can check out the real Waterville Public Library here on their website. Y’all knew I would look that up, right?! 😉

As this movie is an over-the-top comedy, it comes as no surprise that the library scene is also campy (har har) and over-the-top. Beth and Henry are both poring over bookshelves in the library, on opposite sides of the same bookcase, yet totally unaware of each other.

And OF COURSE, their respective sections — astrophysics and camp directing — are on the opposite sides of this same bookcase. Is it odd that there seem to be more books on camp directing than there are on astrophysics, at least if you take into account the size of Henry’s stack of books! Also, how in tune is this public library with the needs of its users?! Bravo, Waterville Public Library, bravo.

The call numbers highlighted in this scene are also fake — “AS” begins the section on astrophysics call numbers, while “CA DIR” begins the section on camp directing — but I had to laugh out loud at this celluloid call numbering system!

Although this is only a brief scene in a movie full of quirky memorable scenes, I did enjoy the inclusion of a library — and focus on research!

Do you think their respective research journeys help lead Beth and Henry into each other’s arms by movie’s end? I’d say the odds of that are as good as the odds of seeing Daisy Duke-style cut-off shorts and feathered bangs in Wet Hot American Summer. 😀

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Sources used:

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• Wet Hot American Summer. Dir. David Wain. Perf. Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Paul Rudd. Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2001.