Movie Review of The Kings of Summer
What it’s about: Three teenage friends, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land.
Genre: Drama
Rating: 15
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Starring: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Erin Moriarty
Review: I actually saw this film featured on someone’s ‘Top Films of 2013’ list and after reading what it’s about it definitely struck me as the kind of film I’d like. The Kings of Summer is about 2 friends, Joe and Patrick on the cusp of adolescence. Their parents are still treating them like kids when all they want is to be treated like adults. With the help of a boy from their school, Biaggio, they decide to spend the summer building a house in the woods so eventually they can run away and live there. It is a typical coming of age story that covers infuriating parents, finding your independence and falling in love for the first time.
To be completely honest, this film disappointed me quite a bit and I’m not sure it deserves the hype it’s been given. The two main boys, Joe and Patrick were decent enough characters, and although they’re actors I’m not aware have been in much else, I’m sure they will both grow to be quite successful actors. The third boy, Biaggio, was frankly, just weird. He had no back story, in fact, he didn’t really have much of a story at all. Although he was quite funny and ultimately at the end he plays the hero, I think the whole character was pretty irrelevant and the film would have been exactly the same if he wasn’t in it. There was no familiar faces at all in this film, and all the actors seemed very amateur and I know they have to start somewhere but it made the whole film seem like a novice movie maker’s university project.
Although this film definitely made me want to be a teen again, there was absolutely nothing to give it the ‘wow’ factor. The whole film seemed really rushed to me. You see the boys starting to build the house then 2 scenes later it’s finished. Surly they must have faced some obstacles along the way? They are 3 15 year old boys and they managed to build a house that quickly, with no help and no problems? The story in general just seemed a bit all over the place, jumping from one thing to another and it’s such a shame because I absolutely loved the idea and the concept of this film – they could have done so much more with it and it definitely could have been executed a lot better.