Beautiful, moving film.

Absolutely brilliant

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A reviewer here asks why Jason Bateman is credited, but cannot be found in this TV movie. Allow me to propose an hypothesis: someone made a crediting mistake early on, because the actor (Joe Wright) who plays the central character (Jerry Disbro) looks so much like Bateman at the time. (Bateman is almost exactly one year older than Wright, and to my eyes, they could almost be twins.) If I had to guess, I'd bet it was the bureaucrat who put Bateman's name on the 1987 VHS release box. The rest is (flawed) history, I suppose. With Bateman's earlier featured appearances on shows like Little House on the Prairie ("He Was Only Twelve", 1982), he likely wouldn't be playing a background camper in this film, hence would be noticeable in viewing it today.As for a review of Poison Ivy, the first half or more is pure Summer-Camp-film formula reflecting what the writers think the audience wants to believe summer camp was like, more than any reality, particularly with regard to the girl-crazy boys and the fashion-model-wannabe girls. The last half hour, on the other hand, is a rather well-done treatment of boy-overcoming-fears and stealing the spotlight from the pointless and counterproductive "Color War" competition. Even camp director "Big Irv" agrees in the end that Timmy's personal victory is a better example of "the Pinewood spirit" than the all-out-warfare of the camp's "Color War" tradition.Given the schlocky setup of the film's first hour, this pleasant little moral at the end almost comes as a surprise. Overall, the film is still a mundane audience-pleaser designed to get ratings for advertisers (it was a TV film, after all), albeit with decent performances in the main characters played by Michael J. Fox, Nancy McKeon and the great Robert Klein.

Just your typical summer camp movie that follows the basic formula of a little romance, a few troubled youths, and some sort of friendly competition near the end. Well not all that friendly as one team tries to rig one of the events in a very unfair and mean spirited way. I would try to talk about the plot more, but it has been forever since I saw this movie as a kid. I figured I would review it though as I am not really keen on tracking this movie down and seeing it again. From what I remember though it is a better summer camp movie than say Meatballs 2, but not as good as the original or as different as say white water summer or that kind of creepy one where the kids take over the camp and everything goes berserk. What you basically get is the same old clichés and story lines. The only other parts that stand out other than the boy who learns how to do the backstroke is the story of the man who lives by himself in a cabin and has what appears to be blood on his hatchet.

It's been a long time seeing,and my VHS tape is messed up where I had it taped. I think it would be fun to have. Has cutesy little things happen,and I love the little boy who is 'in love' with nurse Rhonda at camp. I think people of all ages would enjoy it. Nancy and Michael have nice chemistry, and are a cute couple. I wish it would show on t.v., along with a few others I can't find again. Like Rags to Riches,with Joseph Bologna. Or Bad Manners. These are some I would love to see come to t.v. again,or make VHS still for them. Maybe even to DVD . But if you get a chance, check it out. For the most part, I believe here and there,you'll have to smile.I think you'll like it.

Poison Ivy is a funny story revolving around a counselor (Michael J. Fox) and his five campers at a boys' camp called Camp Pinewood. Dennis Baxter (Fox) is looking for love in all the wrong places, until he meets the beautiful Rhonda (Nancy McKeon), the assistant camp nurse. The trouble is, she's already engaged to be married and isn't interested. Dennis's 11-year-old campers each have adventures of their own -- one wants to escape from camp, another tries to woo Rhonda (and takes a romp in poison ivy in order to spend more time in the infirmary with a certain someone), and another devises a scheme to get all the camp goodies into his bunk's possession. It's one adventure after another for these kids, as they learn about loyalty and standing up for what's right.