Lena Dunham was the poster-child for the old adage, “Write What You Know.” And that worked for her. Whether you liked the series or absolutely despised it, Girls remains one of the most prolific shows of the 2000s (full disclosure: this critic thinks that controversial series was an absolute masterpiece). But her latest series, Camping, finds her stepping outside her comfort zone, writing a comedic miniseries about a group of people in their early 40s spending a long weekend together at a camp site. But… maybe she should have stuck to writing about millennials.
Camping focuses on Kathryn, a mildly famous mommy blogger who is organizing a group camping trip with her friends in honor of her husband’s 45th birthday. The problem, however, is that her friend group is far less functional than it appears, and the dynamics are bound to be tested as the trip goes on, especially with the arrival of a free-spirited hippie who refuses to follow Kathryn’s carefully detailed itinerary. Another problem with their friend group, however, is that none of the characters remotely resemble human beings.
For one thing, Kathryn feels like a robot who wandered from the set of Westworld into the real world. Dunham is no stranger to writing unlikable protagonists, and characters have no obligation to come off as likable for audiences, but Kathryn is a special breed of intolerable. The series seems to be presenting her as a Tracy Flick-esque perfectionist, but she instead seems like a cartoon.
Her relationship with her husband, friends, and sister don’t ring true, because it relies on the basic understanding that, at one point, she had genuinely positive relationships with them all, that are no filled with possible breaking points. But it’s impossible to imagine this character ever engaging with people in a way that would result in a positive experience for both parties involved.
The same can be said about Jandice, the hippie who joins up with the main party. She feels like every “free-spirited woman” cliche rolled into one figure, right down to her final scene where she randomly strips fully nude in front of every other major character, without even the slightest hesitation. It’s just not realistic at all, and completely takes the viewer out of the experience. The other main characters, meanwhile, are devoid of any personality — they, simply, react negatively to Kathryn’s quirks, all while still going along with it in order to help further the story. It’s painfully uninteresting and inauthentic.
Camping‘s most egregious sin, however, is that it wastes Jennifer Garner, who is absolutely committed to making this series work. Garner is an underappreciated treasure who may have burst on the scene in an action role but, time and time again, reminds us that she’s a comedic force to be reckoned with. Here, she is giving her all to this part, earnestly delivering every line and subverting her mannerisms and tone of voice in a way that’s almost unsettling. But the material just dos not do her justice.
The same can be said for David Tennant, who is given far less to do but still manages to shine in a brief moment of physical comedy when his character comes across a BB gun.The third main player, Juliette Lewis, is hopelessly typecast as the aforementioned wanderer Jandice, but at least she’s reliably solid.
Girls was constantly critiqued for depicting unlikable characters; a criticism that feels silly since, well, that was the point. For six seasons, Dunham wrote about a group of unlikable, largely dysfunctional friends, but made you see the humanity in them. Yes, you could tell she was largely writing from a place of personal experience (and her show was uncomfortably realistic at times), but she was very clearly a talented writer with a vision and personality all her own.
But her voice is nowhere to be found in Camping — instead, we’re left with unrealistic characters who are not fun to be around, and no emotional thread to connect to. It’s hard to care where these characters end up at the end of the series’ run — all that matters is that Jennifer Garner gets cast on another show shortly after this ends.
Overall rating: 3 out of 10
