Meatballs (1979)

Meatballs (1979)




Synopsis

Set at a low-end summer camp and aimed squarely at a teen audience, Meatballs is a light screwball comedy that turned its low-budget Canadian roots into a very profitable box-office run. The biggest reason for the film's success is Bill Murray who stars as Tripper, the head counselor who runs things at Camp Northstar with the help of his love interest Roxanne (Kate Lynch) and the camp's director Morty (Harvey Atkins), who is affectionately known as Mickey. Camp opens with Tripper and Morty preparing the misfit counselors-in-training -- Spaz, Fink, Crockett, A.L., Candace, Wendy, and Wheels among them -- for the arrival of their hyperactive little charges. After settling in, kids and counselors begin their activities with a soccer game in which depressed 11-year-old Rudy (Chris Makepeace) accidentally loses the game. Cast out by the other children, Rudy runs away only to come across Tripper, who befriends the boy and makes him his running partner. Romance, sexy fun, and comic hijinx -- usually with the heavy-sleeping Morty as their target -- lead up to an annual Olympiad in which Camp Northstar battles the wealthier and athletically superior residents of Camp Mohawk. The challenging events include cup stacking, potato-sack racing, and a nauseating hot dog-eating contest in which the portly Fink devours his way to victory. With the two-day event tied up, it comes down to the cross-country run, in which Tripper enters Rudy. Meatballs was the first major directorial effort by multi-talented filmmaker Ivan Reitman, whose name has since become synonymous with the comedy genre.

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Movie News

  • 'Meatballs' Directors to Police '21 Jump Street' Adaptation

    Columbia Pictures is negotiating with the 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' directing duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller to step behind the camera on a big-screen version of '21 Jump Street.'


  • Sony Cooks Up Early Digital Release for 'Meatballs'

    Sony will release Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs digitally on Dec. 8, making it available to Bravia TV owners and the latest generation of networked Sony Blu-ray players almost a month earlier than the Jan. 4 street date for the DVD and Blu-ray discs.



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