The Other 9

Wet Hot American Summer

Starring Janeane Garofalo, Paul Rudd, David Hyde Pierce, Christopher Meloni

In the middle of another season of dumb-and-dumber fare, it might be left to a plucky little summer-camp parody to capture the flag of our hearts. Incubating their baby for three years, director David Wain and writing partner Michael Showalter (former members of sketch-comedy crew The State) finally got the film made by casting their alt-comedy buddies (and buddies of their buddies): Molly Shannon (Superstar), Meloni (Law & Order: SVU), Michael Ian Black (Ed), and Amy Poehler (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo) all turned out for the gig. ''Literally, we'd just call 'em up, they'd say yes, we'd say cool,'' laughs Wain. ''It was that easy.''

The shoot was anything but. Thanks to a gnat-size budget, the actors were forced to stay at an actual summer camp in northeastern Pennsylvania. ''We all lived in the bunks, there were no trailers, and it poured rain 25 out of 29 days,'' says Wain. ''The worse it got, the more [it seemed] there was no line between the movie and real life.'' We'll assume that doesn't extend to the hilarious, drug-fueled crime spree that camp director Garofalo leads midway through the movie.

''Nobody told me about the cabins! The no heat! The mud up to your ass!'' laughs Pierce, who costars as a neighboring astrophysicist who becomes a hero to the camp's geeky kids. ''But I hope the movie does well. It opened in two theaters the same weekend as Planet of the Apes, so I don't even think that people in the movie went.''