Movie Review – Ernest Goes to Camp

Ernest Goes to Camp (1987)
Written by John R. Cherry III and Coke Sams
Directed by John R. Cherry III 

While his first film appearance was a cameo in our previously reviewed film, Ernest made his starring debut in this film. The story goes that in the mid-1980s, Disney took part in a parade held for the Indy 500 in Indianapolis. Studio executives Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg attended and noted that this Ernest person received louder applause than Mickey Mouse. The audience started yelling, “Hey Vern,” while the Disney dudes had no idea what that was about. They contacted John Cherry and Jim Varney and decided they would finance an Ernest feature film. It wasn’t precisely what Cherry had wanted as Disney nixed certain elements, mainly Ernest speaking directly to the camera when he talks to Vern. 

Ernest (Varney) is a maintenance man at Kamp Kikakee with dreams of becoming a counselor. That chance comes sooner than he thinks when a group of juvenile delinquents is scheduled to visit that summer. The senior counselors don’t want the assignment, so they hand it off to Ernest, who proceeds to get into a series of hijinks. Ernest and his group of troubled campers become the targets of both adult & child bullies. Meanwhile, a mining company run by Sherman Krader (John Vernon) is out to steal away the land the camp is built on. He manages to manipulate Chief St. Cloud (Iron Eyes Cody), the Native man who owns the land. It all comes down to Ernest and his crew of misfits fighting back to save the day.

One of the things I realized while rewatching the many Ernest films is (and I’m sure this will surprise you) that most of them are not very good. Part of the reason Ernest Goes to Camp doesn’t fully land is that it doesn’t feel enough like an Ernest movie. I could see how Cherry’s ideas about the character and how he would be presented were blunted by the hand of Touchstone Pictures. That makes sense because Cherry & Varney were being offered a rare chance to make a wide distribution feature film. After seeing Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam, I didn’t mind that they were forced to make something more palatable. 

The problem with Ernest Goes to Camp is that it feels like a generic summer camp movie. The misfit campers and the evil corporation trying to buy the land and shut down the camp are tropes we see come up again and again in this subgenre. It does try very hard to have heart about Ernest and his guidance of these troubled boys. He is a genuinely good person, which even casual viewers of the commercials understood. A two-part holiday season-themed ad aired where the first part ended with Vern slamming the door on Ernest trying to attend his Christmas party. Cherry says angry letters were written & calls were made by people upset that Vern would treat Ernest like that. Thankfully, part two has Ernest get playful revenge against his friend, and all is well.

A moment in Ernest Goes to Camp evokes deep pathos in the audience. Ernest has a musical number, something none of the other movies would do, singing “Gee, I’m Glad It’s Raining.” The lyrics express the character’s melancholy relief that at least no one can see him cry when it rains. People on set claim no dry eye was among them when Varney finished singing. The actor had a musical theater background, so he was not a bad singer. It’s also not that complex of a song, so it doesn’t showcase his talent fully. It’s an earnestly (no pun intended) sweet moment in a very silly movie.

This film already highlighted a problem that would remain throughout the series, which is focusing too much on elements of the movie that are not Ernest. If we look at Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, we see that Mr. Herman is in every scene and is the plot’s focus. With Ernest Goes to Camp, we have a character inserted into a generic film where he is absent in several scenes. As we get further into the series, I will highlight which movies know how to use Ernest and which (most of them) just kind of have him there while a whole plot that could happen without his presence unfolds. 

Ernest’s films can be broken into three eras – Touchstone Era, Independent Theatrical, and direct-to-video. This falls into that first category and looks much nicer than films from the other two eras. It’s not the best of the Touchstone bunch, but it is passable. Ernest does a lot of things you might expect from him: he falls off a ladder, he says, “KnowhutImean?”, he delivers a chest-puffing monologue immediately followed by his comeuppance, he says “ewwww” in a specific way to the camera, yet there are also things I associate with Ernest that are not here.

Things were just kicking off, and Jim Varney and John Cherry had much more to come. In our following review, we’ll look at my personal favorite of the Ernest films, Ernest Saves Christmas.