They Came Together: Wet Hot New York Romance

They Came Together tells the story of tiny scarves, word jazz and a man named Eggbert. It is a send up of romantic comedies that is told perfectly straight while being incredibly bonkers. The biggest problem is that it tells us the jokes, tells us again and then goes over what it has told us. The nuance is gone and what we get is an enjoyable little romp that will appeal to the Wet Hot American Summer crowd.

Like Wet Hot, They Came Together will most certainly find an audience in the years to come. However, Wet Hot felt so weird and different while We Came Together feels familiar. I remember watching Wet Hot and loving when kids got thrown out of vans or kitchen workers humped refrigerators. It had a personality unlike any other and proved to be memorable. They Came Together is fun but occasionally goes the easy route via over explaining. Director David Wain and co-writer Michael Showalter certainly know the genre but go too far when they insert a literal pole into a waiter’s butt. The awareness hinders the jokes because they feel jack hammered in without an ounce of nuance.

They Came Together tells the story of two people who meet cute/hate each other/fall in love/find out she has racist parents/break up/get back with exes/date baxters/get married/fight Michael Shannon. She owns a candy shop where everything is free and all money goes to charity. He works for a candy conglomerate that wants to tear down her store. Of course, this all leads to a scene where Christopher Meloni craps himself while wearing a superhero costume.

I had a constant smile throughout and enjoyed the simple pleasures of likable people engaging in rom-com tropes. My favorite moments involved little observations. For instance, Ed Helms plays a guy named Eggbert who wears progressively smaller scarves.

Also, anytime Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper get to react to odd stories I’m all in.

They Came Together is a fun film yet doesn’t hit the high notes of Wet Hot or Role Models. It might start a tiny scarf trend but won’t develop the cult following of Wet Hot.

Watch They Came Together. Never wear a superhero costume when you have to go to the bathroom.