The Kings Of Summer

Youth revisited
My husband and I missed this in the theaters and kept looking for its on-line release - so I was pleased to find it on Amazon. OK, it is about teen rebellion and summer love, but we liked it a lot. With so many movies about mean teen girls and shallow relationships of this generation, this tells a warm story about the friendships and bonds between teen boys - the trust, anger and jealousy that comes and goes; a topic that doesn't often get explored in the movies. The best things: the actors were great and well cast; there were several scenes where the cinematography was great (beating the drums in the woods was one); it was a realistic/unrealistic fantasy escape we all might have had in high school. We laughed, we were surprised and we were glad we watched it. As the movie closed, I thought...those guys will be friends forever.

Biaggio character alone worth the rental
Moises Arias' character alone makes this movie worthwhile. One of the funniest characters and performances I've seen in a while.

An Entertaining Coming -of-Age Comedy
THE KINGS OF SUMMER is an entertaining coming-of-age movie, reminiscent of STAND BY ME, but with a lighter touch.

Joe (Nick Robinson), Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and Biaggio (Moises Arias) are a trio of Mid-West teens who have decided to flee their parents. Joe's dad (Nick Offerman) is a wisecracking, insensitive "s.o.b.". Patrick's folks (Megan Mullally, Marc Evan Jackson) are on the "creepy" side, and, except for one brief scene, we don't really meet Biaggio's parents, but he's a bit "weird," so that should tell us something.

The truth is that, from a teenager's standpoint, all parents are insensitive, creepy and/or weird.

In an ultimate act of independence, the three boys decide to spend their summer building a ramshackle house in the woods and living off the land. The house goes up amazingly fast, and while the parents and the police (led by Mary Lynn Rajskub) search for them, the teens have a great time. The adventure, however, turns south when...

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