Review of The Kings of Summer (2013) by Trevor M — 18 Jan 2014

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn of this generation. The wit is brilliant, the charm is wondrous, and the spirit of adventure is in full bloom. There is so much to love about this movie and every scene brings another wonderful memory. This is truly Independent filmmaking at its best.

- Details Breakdown -.

The Good: This is, without a doubt, the Tom Sawyer of the modern generation and it does it with wit, heart, and style. The dynamic between the three main characters, Joe, Pattrick, and Biaggio is cinema gold and is the fuel for the spectacular machine of wit and charm that is The Kings of Summer. Also, whoever thought to cast Nick Offerman as Joe's father deserves a standing ovation because he does absolutely brilliantly. The other set of parents also do an amazing job too, but in a completely different way. Every character is completely unique and fresh and simply watching the characters interact with one another and with the outside world is something that feels like it could be watched forever. The filmmaking itself of this movie is a treat in and of itself, especially the various slo-mo scenes spaced throughout the film. The abruptness of some of the humor is also what makes this movie's comedy work so well, especially from the character of Biaggio. The kid is a riot and completely unpredictable and scenes are randomly interrupted by him dancing like a barbarian or clinging to a tree, pretending to be a lizard. There is a lot of heart in this movie too, which is what really carries everything else along. Most comedies lack a real backbone of heart and soul, but Kings of Summer has it in spades. Even if Joe's romantic dilemmas are a bore to some, there are so many other characters to care about and they each have their own problems to tackle. The absolute freedom that this movie exudes is a breath of fresh air and brings out the buried urge to be one's own master that most people forgot was there. When watching this film, it is easy to draw similarities to Moonrise Kingdom, but this movie is done so much better and is far less creepy. The age range is actually appropriate in this film, whereas in Moonrise Kingdom, the age of the children makes the whole story very disturbing.

The Bad: The love interest is not really all that likeable. Sure, she is attractive and portrayed as desirable by everyone, but she ends up being mostly just a heartbreaker. This is not entirely a bad thing though, since this is a very important part of the story and the ending, but the way the relationship is crafted is a bit problematic. There is never any chemistry or any special moments between the two and so the extent that Joe feels the burn of betrayal from her and his friend when they begin to date feels a bit too...intense. The writers of this movie should have substituted out the f-bombs for other profanity so that this movie received a PG-13 rating, rather than an R rating. This movie is really something that is fitting for the PG-13 age range, since it is about teenage years, and so it is a real shame that the R rating gets in the way.