John R. Cherry III’s family film follows the antics of potential counselor and funny man Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) as he navigates through camp with the intent of helping at-risk youth and preserving an Indian reservation. Ernest P. Worrell, as many know, is the fun-loving buffoon that regularly gets himself into asinine trouble. Regardless of the situation or circumstance, Ernest always manages to find himself in the most ridiculous of predicaments. Slapstick comedy is essential to Varney’s character and it is almost always successful. This type of comedy is not for all audiences, however, it seems that, considering the target audience, Varney’s films (and comedy) do exactly what they need to do in order to be successful. Ernest Goes to Camp is the first installment of the Ernest films and it is clear that, even taking into consideration what this cast and crew were trying to accomplish, things were not quite as crisp as they needed to be. The entire point of the film is to be silly and spark laughter in the audience, but the casting choices for this film were subpar to say the least. The actors chosen to portray the “juvenile delinquents” (Jacob Vargas, Scott Menville, etc.) were the least intimidating children possibly ever. They each appeared innocent and less than capable of committing any crime that would have landed them in a juvenile detention center. Overall, the film is fun and reaches its target audience. It conveys a story of camaraderie, perseverance and morality, and it seems that the film effectively displays these qualities to the younger viewers in the audience while still providing the occasional laugh for the parents of those viewers. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092974/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
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