Sunny Dancer
This mildly raunchy teen comedy about cancer survivors having a lovely time at summer camp has an excellent young cast led by Bella Ramsey, but too often it slips into cancer movie clichés
Cross The Fault in Our Stars with Meatballs and you’re close to the flavour of Sunny Dancer, George Jaques’ likeable but predictable summer camp movie. Bella Ramsey is the spiky Ivy, a 17-year-old cancer victim who’s been in remission for ten months and is sick of everyone's pity since her illness. Her parents are worried she’s become a tad antisocial as a result, so they ship her off to a cheery summer camp for other teens who’ve lost huge chunks of their adolescence while fighting cancer.
She’s resistant at first, but softens when she discovers the camp is populated exclusively by utterly lovely kids who all look like they’ve stepped off a Gap ad. Ivy is quickly adopted by the camp’s cool gang. They smoke weed, have boozy slumber parties and happily weaponise their illness if it’ll get them free fun fair tickets. Sunny Dancer’s chief asset is its young cast, who convince as snarky, horny teens thanks to their feral energy and naturalistic banter. Ruby Stokes is particularly droll as Ivy’s boy-obsessed roommate Ella, who’s trying to seduce the camp’s hunky outdoor activities instructor.
Less assured is the film around them. While Jaques avoids some cancer film clichés (there’s not a single scene in a hospital), he lays on others pretty thick. One kid’s death is foreshadowed with all the subtlety of a bloody hanky in a historical drama. A bizarre final act fake-out, possibly inspired by Fight Club, is also a massive misstep in this otherwise perfectly pleasant YA lark.
Released 14 Aug by True Brit Entertainment; certificate 15