Synopsis
Armed with no knowledge of the great outdoors, a dilapidated facility, and a motley group of campers, it doesn't take long before things get out of control. Up against threats of foreclosure and declining enrollment, Charlie is forced to call on his estranged father, Col Buck Hinton (Richard Gant) to help bring the camp together and teach everyone about teamwork, perseverance and the power of forgiveness.
Charlie Hinton (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and Phil Ryerson (Paul Rae) are in over their heads. Summer is coming and after running the very successful Daddy Day Care, they are losing half the group to graduation and the rest to the local day camps. Their own kids want to go to camp too, but Charlie and Phil have other plans for them. Since both men had some traumatic experiences of their own as childhood campers, they are hoping to spare their sons the pain they went through and spend the summer doing father-son stuff. Until the wives step in. The next thing they know, Charlie and Phil are driving their kids to summer camp.
If their sons are going to go to camp, they can at least attend their dads' alma mater, Camp Driftwood. When they arrive, they find a beaten and run down Uncle Morty (Brian Doyle-Murray) inside a beaten and run down camp. Uncle Morty, who has owned the place since the men were boys, has run Camp Driftwood into the ground and given up on any kind of revival thanks to Camp Canola just across the lake. Complete with valets, waiters, beautiful boats and the top-of-the-line jet skis, Camp Canola will serve as a summer day camp / pseudo spa to the richest, most pampered and spoiled of local kids.
Not only that, but Camp Canola is now being run by Charlie's arch nemesis, Lance Warner (Lochlyn Munro), whose sole mission in life was to torment Charlie as a child. When Charlie learns that Camp Driftwood is about to be foreclosed upon, he decides to buy the camp and restore it to its original charm and beauty.........and hopefully beat his rival once and for all. Uncle Morty takes off before the ink on sales agreement is dry; and Charlie and Phil start work on their inherited problems with the help of their inherited counselor Dale (Joshua McLerran), who proves to be no help at all since it is his first day on the job.
Nothing is going as planned. Even the latrine blows up when they try to use it. The men have bitten off more than they can chew. With nowhere else to turn, Charlie has no choice but to call the one person he vowed never to ask for help, his father, Marine Corps Colonel Buck (Richard Gant). Charlie and his father don't have the best relationship. His dad was a little hard on him as a kid, and the strain has put some distance between the two. A military man all of his life, Buck was consumed with his work. He even called Charlie "soldier," much to Charlie's chagrin. But now Buck is retired and realizing what is more important. His son's olive branch could be the very thing he needs to repair their relationship, while helping to repair the
