Tiny Fugitives, 2026.
Directed by Michael Lewen.
Starring Johnny Knoxville, Benjamin Pajak, Aaron D. Harris, Isa Bernal Steiner, Jay Baruchel, Blake Anderson, Jai Soundar, Arrian Kenneth Wu, Alyssa Gervasi, Briana Templeton, Rob Yang, Leo Hynes, Leslie Adlam, Desmond Sivan, Liv Nelson, Ewan Wood, Kathryn Greenwood, Morgan Joy, Josette Jorge, Brody Agmon, Desmond Sivan, Lucas Mattocks, and Jacob Kaplan.
SYNOPSIS:
A reckless group of twelve-year-olds sets out on a mission to spend the rest of their lives at sleep-away camp. They’ll just have to get past Bob – the camp’s deranged, relentless, 50-year-old lifer counselor.
No one will be surprised to find out in the ending credits that co-writer/director Michael Lewen’s Tiny Fugitives is executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, as right down to the Jewish curly-haired child actor who is a dead ringer for a younger Jonah Hill to the familiar, inevitable fractured friendship plotting in lieu of impending life changes, this could have been called Superbad: Sleepaway Camp. Aside from that setting and younger kids, also attempting to separate the movies apart is the presence of Johnny Knoxville as an underutilized, underdeveloped, career camp counselor tasked with watching over the boys and girls in the infirmary as they intentionally gave themselves pinkeye to be forced into quarantine the next morning rather than back on the bus home (another thought: there isn’t a single camp on Earth that would allow anyone of the opposite gender to bunk in the same area).
That parenthetical observation is important as Johnny Knoxville’s Bob has the challenge of watching over a group where some of these 12-year-olds aren’t just rowdy and rebellious, but horny and sex-obsessed in the clueless ways that younglings typically are growing up (their misunderstandings of the sexual meanings behind each base are funny). They are also getting their first harsh taste of reality, namely Jacob (Benjamin Pajak), whose parents (which include Jay Baruchel making a welcome, glorified cameo as the father) are on the verge of divorce, with the financial fallout partially being that they will not have the eight grand to send him to Camp Fineman the following year.
This is especially hard on Jacob, as camp is the only place where his dorky personality renders him popular, although also the de facto leader in a controlling-type way. Nevertheless, even with that going for him during these summer days, he still struggles to find the bravery to confess his romantic feelings for the similarly awkward Tali (Isa Bernal Steiner), who tells nonsensical stories about her dating life at school to appear hip and cool. More than anything, she just wants Jacob to make a move and confess his feelings. Instead, his mind is typically occupied with best friend Charness (Aaron Harris, the aforementioned Jonah Hill child look-alike), who mostly serves as the clichéd funny no-filter heavyset sidekick. Allegedly not even loved by his own parents, he too feels at home and likable at summer camp.
As such, they and others not mentioned here begin scheming a plan to escape the counselors and never get back on that bus by sneaking off to the older iteration of the camp, which is now abandoned. This also includes forcing the nerdy Leon (Jai Soundar), who is even ridiculed by some of these kids for being lame, into the pact for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, Bob loses control of the situation, easily distracted by the prospect of other counseling opportunities, but with a hard-edged, no-nonsense determination to find the children and return them safely to the infirmary.
Simply put, the humor rarely lands, mostly coming down to 12-year-olds being outlandishly juvenile. At one point, Leon is told what a hand job is, and a girl consents that he can say she gave him one so he can come across cooler. In some respects, there is something to admire in that Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg way of depicting children under crassly honest circumstances with no sanitization (it also certainly helps the child actors sell the performances, so perhaps it’s the jokes themselves from Michael Lewen and screenwriting collaborator Jacob Kaplan that fail to elicit laughs. The ending credits offer more to laugh at, with factoids about what the characters went on to do after this tumultuous, possibly final year of summer camp.
One also sees the appeal of casting Johnny Knoxville as a camp counselor who mostly gets hurt in pursuit, except those sequences aren’t necessarily exciting either, and they’re far and few between. One consistently gets the sense there was originally supposed to be more to the character: a lifelong camper who never grew up, but who may have shifted into the type of counselor he once despised, yet nothing is expanded on. It’s just Johnny Knoxville getting electrocuted alongside other slapstick circumstances.
Then there is the predictability that Jacob’s glaring flaws as a leader and friend will come into play, driving a wedge between everyone. In addition to transitioning into a heist film to steal the $8000 that could be used for Jacob to come to camp next year, the narrative also doubles down on cringe relationship dynamics and woes between these children that might come across as relatable to children or anyone remembering their youth, but are also mired in too much familiarity.
Nevertheless, there are some pleasantly wonderful moments when the children are alone, mostly eschewing vulgarity for something more character-based and, at times, sweet. Watching them take part in the usual camping activities, only to realize they don’t have nearly enough edible food or supplies to survive out here forever, is amusing. All of this works much better when it’s not trying to be something in the vein of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg; that could have worked with some moderation and without forcing it. If nothing else, Tiny Fugitives has heart in the right place, as it’s about crass children outgrowing one place and discovering for the first time that life changes over the years, with no treasured dynamic ever staying the same.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist
