Ernest Goes to Camp Reviews

Jim Varney is the commercial spokesman for scores of companies, his character of "Ernest" well-known in most states, so it seemed like a good idea to make a movie starring the know-it-all handyman. The plot is as simpleminded as the character. Ernest wants to become a counselor at Camp Kikakee. Instead he is handed the janitorial position. When one of the other counselors has an accident, Ernest is assigned the task of overseeing some young misfits. These juvenile delinquents abuse Ernest for awhile, then the villain, Sherman Krader (John Vernon), enters. He tries to use Ernest to persuade the old Indian chief (Iron Eyes Cody) who owns the camp to sign away all rights to the land so he can use it for strip mining. The dialog is dumb, the acting is dull, the attempts at physical humor are for the most part predictable. Varney wears his traditional baseball cap, says his traditional commercial lines, and shows that the jump from small screen to big screen might not always work out. Still, the film was successful enough to have the character reprised in ERNEST SAVES CHRISTMAS (1988) and ERNEST GOES TO JAIL (1990).