Family Camp, the first motion picture from the Oklahoma based Christian comedy team The Skit Guys, opens this Friday, May 13, in 900 theaters across the country. The movie is laugh-out-loud funny for all ages, family friendly, and equally fun for families of other faith traditions.
Family Camp tells the story of the Ackerman family, a typical American family who has become distracted by life and needs something to pull them all back together. When their pastor encourages the congregation to attend a family summer camp, Mrs. Ackerman decides this is the perfect cure for her imperfect clan. So, she drags her reluctant husband and kids to rustic Camp Katokwah and launches them into the adventure of a lifetime.
Family Camp stars the outstanding comedic duo Tommy Woodard and Eddie James, who are the founders of the comedy troupe, The Skit Guys. Their creative partnership started in high school when Tommy asked Eddie to attend his church. With encouragement and guidance from their youth pastor, the guys started to write and perform skits for their youth group.
Flash forward a few decades, The Skit Guys is now a full-fledged production company that employs several local filmmakers to create scripts, skits, short films, and videos that are used in churches all over the world. Tommy and Eddie still lead the charge and travel the country doing live skits at churches and conferences each summer. You can see their tour schedule and the wide range of stories and subjects on their website at skitguys.com.
Family Camp is co-written and directed by Brian Cates, who is part of the creative team at The Skit Guys. Cates has directed several short films and produced the post-tornado documentary Where Was God? (2014), the narrative feature Hollis (2015), and the limited television series The Glory of Christmas (2020). This is Cates’ first time directing a narrative feature and he knocks it out of the park.
The movie is co-written by Rene Gutteridge, who is the head writer at The Skit Guys and the co-director of WriterCon. Gutteridge has been a professional writer for the past 20 years and is the author of 25 novels and books. She wrote the feature film SKID, which won Best Oklahoma Film at the 2015 deadCenter Film Festival. And, her novel My Life as Doormat, was adapted into the 2016 Hallmark movie Love’s Complicated.
I cannot say enough good things about this super fun movie. I attended the preview screening of Family Camp earlier this week with some friends and their kids, and it was my favorite night at the movies since the pandemic started.
Family Camp is screening in the Oklahoma City area at Harkins Bricktown, AMC Penn Square, AMC Quail Springs, ShowBiz Cinemas in Edmond, and the Regal Warren Theater in Moore. It’s the perfect movie to kick-start your summer, laughing alongside family and friends.
