I am a big fan of Jim Varney and his Ernest P Worrell character. I saw all four of the Ernest movies in the theater. I saw "Ernest Goes to Camp" in theater (Cinema City, Fresh Meadows, NY) when I was 23 years old. "Goes to Camp" is my least favorite of the theatrical movies. It has a lot of funny parts but there's too much downtime. The movie is too serious at times and is way too violent at one point. That said, I still enjoy watching "Ernest Goes to Camp'. I just don't watch it as much as I watch the other movies in the series. (True confessions: I snuck into this movie after watching "Ishtar".)

Ernest's summer camp adventure is actually his second feature-length adventure after he began life in TV commercials (not a lot of people know he actually starred in Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam the year before), and it's fairly standard mid-80s family fare.

The clumsy handyman (played, by the late, ever appealing Jim Varney) gets a job as a counselor for delinquent kids who are having trouble fitting in with the more privileged lot. Through pain and pranks he manages to build their confidence. A very tacked-on subplot about an evil businessman wanting scam the Indian camp owner in order to mine the area into oblivion builds to a moderately entertaining climax as Ernest and the kids revolt.

It reminded me a lot of Meatballs and Bushwhacked (both better films) and while it's shot for the big screen (in lovely anamorphic Panavision) John Cherry still directs like it's for TV, and clearly should have done more takes and rehearsals. I doubt kids will notice or care, but it gives the film the rushed feel of a TV production.

Worth watching, if only just once.

Maybe the Ernest movies had no cinematic value, but you have to accept them for what they are: pure, unadulterated fun. In this case, Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) is working at a summer camp, where some "second chance" kids have just arrived. Most of the movie is an excuse to have Ernest get into a series of embarrassing situations, but then he has to try and protect the camp from an unctuous developer (John Vernon).

Like I said, you have to accept the Ernest movies, if only to watch him mess everything up all the time. He's like Gilligan: he always tries his best, but always manages to bungle things. It's quite certain that Jim Varney will be missed.