Plot
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.
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 7.2/10 (493 voted)
Director:Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Storyline
Joe Toy, on the verge of adolescence, finds himself increasingly frustrated by his single father, Frank's attempts to manage his life. Declaring his freedom once and for all, he escapes to a clearing in the woods with his best friend, Patrick, and a strange kid named Biaggio. He announces that they are going to build a house there, free from responsibility and parents. Once their makeshift abode is finished, the three young men find themselves masters of their own destiny, alone in the woods.
Debut feature director Jordan Vogt-Roberts' Kings of Summer (née Toy's
House) is a coming of age story of 2 best friends who decide to build a
house in the woods to escape their families and their enigmatic friend
Biaggio who accompanies them.
The three kids give great performances and all seem so natural in their
characters; Moises Arias is exceptionally funny as the oddball Biaggio.
I caught the third ever showing at Sundance London followed by a
director's Q&A and he remarked that many moments are just the kid's
messing around and sometimes unaware they are being filmed. The montage
scene of the kids playing in the woods and banging on the pipe that
opens the film was filmed all in one day with just the kids, the D.P
and director and is so naturally the sort of nonsense a group of
teenagers would get up to.
An amazing supporting cast including the always wonderful Nick
Offerman, Alison Brie, Megan Mullally and Mary Lynn Rajskub perfectly
deliver the material; it's an impressive cast for such a small film.
Début writer Chris Galletta delivered a cracking script that delivers
on the laughs and also has some strong emotional moments as the boys
inevitably fallout over a girl and we see the kid's fractious
relationship with their parents.
A great mix of classic coming of age tales such as Stand By Me and the
indie comedies of recent times that hits the comedic and dramatic notes
without ever being saccharine, annoyingly quirky or overly morbid as so
many indie comedies fall into.
I highly recommend the film; it will transport you back to your
terrible but wonderful teenage years and is genuinely hilarious, I
can't imagine a single person not loving this film.
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