Carry On Camping
What better time to watch this than while camping in Devon myself? No it’s not a sequel to the recent airport based thriller.1
I know this isn’t true of all Carry On films but most of the jokes do actually land here. It’s got a rapid fire humour where the scenes are written around punchlines rather than telling a story; good for a laugh in the short term, not so good for making a film you might want to come back to.
The story is multi-threaded, but at its core it’s about a 50 year-old Sid James trying to shag his girlfriend while camping, then trying to shag some school girls he meets at the campsite. It’s not something you’d want to make in 2025 but there’s a breeziness and fun to the saucy humour that lets it get away with a lot of - on paper - sleazy shit. I think it’s because they are keen to show that everyone is up for it and having a good time - including Hattie Jacques’ matron who comes over as funny and confident despite being the butt of a lot of the jokes.
Yes it’s dated and sexist - the school girls in particular are just cookie cutter characters. However the paradox here is that its core source of humour is mocking sexists and randy old men. In that very 60s way it’s kind of progressive.