Hurricane of Fun: The Making of Wet Hot

Amy Rice's 2015 documentary is assembled from footage shot during the making of Wet Hot American Summer in 2001. The material surfaced fifteen years later and shows then-unknown performers including Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks making a film together at a summer camp. The feature failed on release and became a cult film years afterwards. The documentary's value is in showing how a cult film comes about by accident: rain, no money, constant improvisation, and nobody quite knowing what they are doing. The working method of David Wain and Michael Showalter is a concrete example of how disorderly comedy writing can be. It is short and loose in structure, and means little to anyone who has not seen the film. Who it's for: fans of Wet Hot American Summer and viewers curious about how a generation of American comedians formed. Who it's not for: anyone who has not seen the film, or who wants an orderly making-of documentary.