The Kings of Summer

The Kings of Summer-480P

source: The Kings of Summer

Never trust a movie with more than two intro sequences, it's a sign of desperation. This movie has many of the elements of a good film, but can't decide how to assemble them. The supporting talent is excellent, but the leads are so so. Photography is competent and attractive, but would be more at home in a commercial or a music video than a coming of age comedy. Though out of place photography is just a symptom of the film's overall uneven tone. At times a contemplative artistic study, at others a screwball comedy, the one tone keeps the other from sticking. The film's identity crisis at times makes it seem like it's 30% filler material. One completely out of place scene cuts from the standard narrative perspective to a fantasy sequence of a girl blowing up a truck and then back. Are we suddenly seeing, the protagonist, Joe's thoughts? Is that a part of this film's style now? Don't worry, it's the one and only time it'll ever happen. And then there's dramatic investment. Should I have been worried when Joe was alone in the woods? When he's a 6 minute walk from a road and a Boston Market? Personally I didn't believe for a moment that these kids could have built that house, scavenged the materials, had the patience or skill to assemble it, or that they ever would have stayed in it for more than 2 nights. The premise, that they would live there for good, was never believable even for a moment; at most a month, or until it became uncomfortable. Where is the peril? Where is the risk? It's very clear after the first thirty minutes that the film had completely run out of ideas. We see long sequences of pretty DSLR footage inter-cut with a couple days of the cast and crew messing around with an expensive slow motion camera. By the final sequence in the hospital I was begging this film to end. We had been four steps ahead of it since the second introductory sequence and by the third we had lapped it. The movie is made watchable by Funny Or Die veterans Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally and Kumail Nanjiani, as well as by a show stealing performance by Moises Arias, though we never really know who his character is. He remains two-dimensional throughout, a sitcom style "breakout" character whose every action represents the writer directly asking the audience 'isn't this guy wacky?'. Not to give anything away, but in the movie's finale the main character seems to claim that he knows about a certain subject, but then does all the worst things that he could possibly do while dealing with that subject. Ten minutes on Wikipedia could have shown the filmmakers what he should have done in the situation. It's sort of baffling, and adds to a particular tone that this film already dripped with; that is was made by entitled, insulated film students seeking artistic approval. I wish them all luck in their future endeavors. I hope all of their next projects suit their personal styles a bit better.

"The Kings of Summer" is your average coming-of-age film for teenage boys. Boys act like men; fathers act like boys and by the end they all will shave. They just have to survive girls, the wild and snakes. Does it sound like the earlier indie hit of the year "Mud"? That's because it's the same movie, just a little more comedic, simple and a little less revolutionary. Joe (Nick Robinson) hates his father (Nick Offerman) because he's an angry, sarcastic loser who offers rude comments more than advice. Patrick (Gabriel Basso) hates his parents (Megan Mullaly and Marc Evan Jackson) because they just don't understand his teenage angst. I really wish the parents were supposed to be how the boys viewed them rather than as they actually were because that would have been even funnier. As is, they were still the funniest parts of the movie. The boys were funny too, but not as naturally comedic. The dialogue was a little too witty for their ripe old age of 15 and the filmmakers had an unnerving tendency to make all their jokes non-sequitors. Early on Joe and Patrick meet Biaggio whose entire character description is that he's weird. He looks weird, he does weird stuff and he says weird things. I don't think the filmmakers trusted the abilities of their teenage actors. I don't blame them, but it's too bad because the result is around twenty montage scenes too many and everything is kept average, unoriginal and simple. I don't mean that as an entirely negative thing. Average films in genres which have built-in audiences guaranteed to connect with the main characters are good. The boys are amusing, the parents are funny and "The Kings of Summer" take just a few simple mis- steps on their way to adulthood.

Three gangly white boys with swords find a patch of land and decide to claim it as their own. "This land ... is ours! We make the rules!" exclaims John Smith, and thus follows a 'coming-of-age' story about being MEN!!!! and TOUGH!!!! and MANLY!!!!!! which inevitably requires making loads of jokes about race and gender and growing facial fuzz and stomping around while waving sharp objects and making a mess. I'm sure more happens as well but I didn't finish the film and you shouldn't either. The cover looked like good design and a good film but the story is atrocious, the lead is insufferable, the dialogue is dorky and I'm only 20 and jaded. 3 points for visuals, no points for fun.

I had to write something about this crap since it made me waste so much time trying to find something good in it. This film is not fun, it has some jokes and overly exaggerated stances from some actors to give a sense of humor, but for most part it is boring, slow paced, it has no "spice" in it. The whole "coming-of-age" genre is usually crappy, with people trying to deliver messages or promote agendas to mold youngsters the way they want; never letting stories to truly come out of a frame; you kind of know almost everything is going to happen from the beginning and this flick is exactly the same; and worst, for whatever little surprise "part" that you might expect at the end, it just ends numbly with nothing to add, nothing to say, especially no coherence with the main character's previous approach and personality. There is no message to deliver (at least not a meaningful one), parents are not the caricature expose in this horrible flick, (and if they are, I feel sorry for USA); teens are not that stupid either, so this film ambiguity between realism and parody is just awful. The film was so boring I spent half the time watching to clock to see if it was about to end; and I just want to see if at least at the end the people behind it would do something "out of the box", but nah!... It has one of the worst movie final sequences I have ever seen; I really hate the Climax and final untangling of this movie, IT DOESN'T WORTH YOUR TIME!!!! Well I would not see crap like Lord of Flies or Stand By Me; so if you're that type of people, go suit yourself, but if you found Stand by Me boring (just like I did); don't even try to start this one.

I suppose I would think this movie was great if I were a teen in a small town in Ohio. And then, you'd have to be a certain kind of teen in Ohio... one that could relate to the main characters in a genuine way. I am from Ohio originally and grew up there in a small town. But I could not suspend my disbelief. All land is owned either privately or by some government entity. You can't just go build a ramshackle dwelling anywhere you please. We don't live in that kind of country. We live in a country where ownership is worshiped and capitalism is our altar. Sad but true.

THE KINGS OF SUMMER is a unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends. Excellent film that will sure put a smile on your face. If you loved Stand By Me? This is for you. The Kings Of Summer is refreshing, funny and absolutely wonderful. An amazing supporting cast! I highly recommend and guarantee that you will absolutely love this film. The Kings Of Summer is a perfect film for teenagers or adults that are still teenagers in heart. This film brings back memories of childhood being carefree and the pitfalls of adolescence. You will love this film.

A self-conscious cartoonish movie that knows its reason and purpose for being cartoonish isn't as frustrating watch as a movie that has strong ideas going for it, but completely goes off the rails, and still maintains the smugness of being serious and better. This film is the latter. A poorly thought-out screenplay which is never sure about its characters and doesn't ever develop a point. These characters couldn't have been more under-developed, and amateur performance by leads doesn't help either. The visual style comes up without serving a purpose, and is distracting and shallow. The problem here is the writer and the director's manipulation. They artificially set situation for our "adventurous" teenage leads to angrily leave their homes, looking for an escape into nature. They treat these characters as derivatives of Christopher McCandless. How insulting for that great man! Before you even notice, this faux-self-discovery film turns into a teenage romantic melodrama that puts even the most idiotic rom-coms of Bollywood to shame. The film is under a delusion that it has earned its seriousness, that its characters have been on a self-discovering journey, profoundly changing their lives or perspectives. Nope. That isn't the case. P.S. An extra half star for using a "Youth Lagoon" song for end-credits. That guy deserves more recognition, but in better films.

Kings of Summer brought a smile to my face a few times, but I was expecting more and when I left the theater feeling as though it could have been much better. The first half of the movie was good. The setup was done well, the interaction with the families and friends was entertaining, but then once the boys moved into the forest, the film drags until everyone is reunited in the hospital. One of the issues with the film was buying into the notion that the boys managed to build the house depicted, in a matter of a week or two. The house should have been a shack at best, instead of a two story, multi-room structure, framed by 4x4 beams, partial sheet metal and plywood siding and roof, furniture inside and out, AND a slide staircase! No one is buying that. For as 'remote' a setting as this is supposed to be, we are expected to believe that these three kids somehow hand-carried several tons worth of metal and wood through a dense forest, not to mention furniture, and then threw it all together seemingly overnight? If it was intended to be something we could believe in, have the kids buy and set up a three room tent and then add a lean-to onto it–that I would have accepted. Once the guys moved in, the movie really had nowhere else to go and we are left waiting, and waiting, and waiting for something to happen, other than where the chickens come from and dancing next to a pipe. When the end finally rolls around, the visual display is more like a couple of bottle rockets popping off in the distance, instead of a grand 4th of July fireworks extravaganza. I also wish movies these days would give the audience a little more credit, and not make films expecting that we don't know much, or will pass over things without raising our eyebrows. Case in point is realism. I already touched on the aspects of the house being believable, but I have a few others. Can someone nudge a director and let them know that a little make-up can easily cover up pierced ear lobes on males! If you are going to show close-ups of males, and you don't want us buying that the character (Frank in this instance, played by Nick Offerman)wears earrings, then for crying out loud throw a little make-up on Nick's ear lobes so we don't see the holes! Studios go to lengths to hide all sorts of things on actors, like tan-lines of wedding rings and wristwatches, and to cover over tattoos, scars and hairlines, etc.–why not extend that to piercings? If you also want us accepting that the snake is a poisonous copperhead, then by all means pay a little extra and get a hot-snake (poisonous snake) handler on location and film a real copperhead–not a regular ol' bull snake (which is not poisonous)! The six stars I give this film are for the scenes with the parents of the boys, and the few minutes afforded to the romance trends between the teenagers, but the rest of it (second half) was too humdrum to hold my interest.