I’ll admitit, I’ve never actually gone to Camp. But thanks to a lifetime spent vicariously living through movies and TV shows, I feel like I have.
So I think I’ve come to have a pretty solid understanding of what goes on there. Arts and crafts, skinny dipping, rap sessions, maybe some competitive white-water rafting, spooky stories around the campfire, hiking, Harmony Huts, bad food, mean popular kids, sexy co-ed hijinks, and quite possibly some murders…
Yeah, I’m clearly a camping expert.
That said, few movies manage to embody everything I love about camping as much as Ernest Goes To Camp (1987). Especially if Meatballs and Sleepaway Camp 2 aren’t handy on the rental shelf. Or Wet Hot American Summer… or Camp Nowhere. But Ernest Goes To Camp is something special, like an ice cold can of Cherry Coke on a warm summer day.
And I’ll tell you what, Vern. There’s something aspirational about Ernest’s unwavering good nature and enthusiasm, his determination, his sincerity, his ability to take a beating and keep on taking beatings. If he taught me anything, it’s that it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
Ok, Rocky taught me that, but so did Ernest.
Maybe more importantly, the late Jim Varney’s oeuvre exemplified the strength of sincerity, and the importance of being earnest. And I earnestly love this movie. -Pop