The Kings of Summer Review

Adolescence brings heartache and tribulations to teens on a daily basis.  This may be tiresome to some, but when your whole world revolves around your current situation, it’s a little easier to understand the over-dramatics.  There are cases, however, where there are circumstances that would drain anyone involved.  The new film The Kings of Summer explores these gut wrenching conditions and what happens when two teenage friends decide to take matters into their own hands.

The Kings of Summer is about three friends who decide to live in and off the land in the woods to escape the shackled home life.  Joe (Nick Robinson) can’t take his strained relationship with his dad (Nick Offerman) after his mother’s death, and conceives of this plan to be independent of everyone.  It doesn’t take long for his best friend Patrick (Gabriel Basso) to join him, for he longs to free himself from his overbearing awkward parents (Megan Mullally and Marc Evan Jackson).  These two set out for an adventure filled summer with their new friend, an eccentric loner Biaggio (Moises Arias), in this heartfelt coming of age story.

In a season where action packed superhero movies rule the box office, The Kings of Summer is a nice revival of the teen-coming-of-age movies from the 80s.  The situations these boys must go through to survive are as true to life as you can get with the woods being in suburbia America.  It’s as if Lord of the Flies met Ferris Buller’s Day Off.  The comedy isn’t too much in your face, letting the natural instincts of characters bring forth the real life comic moments of everyday life.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts, in his feature directorial debut, assembled a cast of heavy weights as leaders to his brilliant young cast.  Mullally and Offerman could possibly be this generation’s Hepburn and Tracy.  While this may be a lofty comment, take a moment to examine their comic stylings.  Mullally and Offerman come from different schools of comedy, the outrageous to the subtle, but you can’t deny that their presence brings charisma and energy to any project they are apart of.  They play off each other well when they are in scenes together, and elevate their fellow cast member’s performances as well.

This has rubbed off onto the young cast, and the whole world of comedy is open to the lead actors.  Robinson takes a lot of the  on his shoulders as the ringleader of the group, but handles it like a pro.  He combines strength and vulnerability into Joe that you sense a hint of Ferris Buller.  For Patrick, Basso does a wonderful job of breaking out from underneath several overpowering people in his life without a hint of ego.  Every group needs the oddball, and Arias does a beautiful job with Biaggio.  This isn’t your normal kid, but it’s hard not to fall for him.

Like most indie comedies, there are moments during the film that take a few steps back to a nice leisurely gait.  For those who love indies, this isn't something that throws off the pace of the film, it's something that you appreciate.  This is the time that you take a moment to peer into the lives of these boys and the effects of their decision.  For me, if there wasn't these moments, the film would feel rushed and incomplete.

Over the past few decades, generations have grown up in drastically different worlds, and sometimes it’s hard to relate to each other’s struggles. The Kings of Summer does a beautiful job in simplifying the heartaches and triumphs one must go through in our teen years, that no matter what generation you connect with, you will understand these boys and root for them throughout the film.  You will leave the theater with the right mix of nostalgia and relief that only the best coming of age films provide.

The Kings of Summer opened in limited release on May 31st, but will hit theaters in Austin on June 7th.

written by Lisa Mejia

photos provided by CBS Films