Review of Summerhood (2008) by Melissa W — 14 Mar 2015

Coming of Age films are amongst my favorite types of films, and I was really excited to sit down and watch the critically acclaimed Age of Summerhood. I really liked the fact that for once, the actors were actually portrayed by kids the same age as their characters.

Many times in films like this, the kids are portrayed by much older actors, in order to spare the young ones from the language and grown up elements expressed in the film, but in 2015, what kid hasn't heard the F word before? Using real kids made the film a lot more authentic and because of it, those funny moments were really funny.

The film is the story of a group of ten year old friends, and their adventures at summer camp. I wish I could give a better description than that, but that's really all this film was about. Most coming of age stories are about life changing events, that will come to define the main characters life.

Sometimes they are about a crime or first love, but not in The Age of Summerhood, as this film is nothing more than a film about kids at camp. While the writers briefly touch on typical coming of age elements, the film doesn't really get into them, in fact, the film doesn't really go into anything, as it's a series of short scenes, some funny moments, and nothing of substance.

10 year old, Lucien Maisel, stars as Fetus and he was great. As I said early having real kids play the roles, made the jokes that much funnier and made the film feel that much more authentic, but it's completely wasted on a film that just doesn't go anywhere.

Age of Summerhood is too cute for adults and too raunchy for kids, it's falls in the middle. While my fellow critics loved it for it's authenticity and the debut of future stars, I found the film to be just one big jumble of kids acting like kids, with the occasional laugh, Age of Summerhood is not a bad movie, but not all that entertaining either.