The Kings of Summer-Movie Review

The Kings of Summer (formerly Toy's House) first premiered at Sundance Film Festival back in January, and left with raving reviews. Until this week, it held a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty good I guess.

When I got invited to the screening I was a little unsure of if it. I didn't know much about it, and when the trailer I viewed gave little away to what it was about, I had my doubts on all the hype. I didn't even want to see it. I nearly skipped the screening. But thank god I didn't. I ended up walking out of the theater having seen the best film that has been released this year.

The Kings of Summer is about two young teens, Joe and Patrick who are tired of their nagging parents and feeling trapped inside their houses. They decide to escape into the forest to build their own house to live in. A boy they meet at a party who's family history is a little foggy named Biaggio, tags along for the adventure.

Without a great lead, a film will collapse. This had plenty of collapse potential, when the main character casted was Nick Robinson. However, quickly into the film I was proved wrong. He owned this role as Joe Toy. The dynamic he holds with his asshole father, played by Nick Offerman, was done to perfection. He was outstanding. Gabriel Basso plays his best friend Patrick, and the first thing I will say is the toughness and the challenge of his performance can easily go unnoticed. His parents are played by comic geniuses. Megan Mullaly and Marc Evan Jackson were beyond hilarious. If they had more screen time, they would be the funniest part of this film (Biaggio wins that round). To act off of their lines and actions would be so tough to do, and the sarcasm and emotions that Gabriel Basso uses are done so perfectly.

I've already done a full write-up on the brilliant awkwardness of Moises Arias and his character Biaggio, so I won't touch on his character as much as I probably should. Just know that every time he is on the screen, something amazing or something hilarious will happen. The funniest parts of the film are with him in it, for sure. And as I said before, he broke out of his shell with this role. This guy has a lot of comedic talent as well as dramatic talent, and I'm excited about the future of his career.

The soundtrack is worth a mention as well. Guster frontman Ryan Miller laid down a perfect score that hit the tone on the head. I love Guster, so when I found out he scored this film, I expected nothing better.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts directed the hell out of this movie. This movie could have been very easy to screw up. It really needed the perfect cast, direction, writing, and just about everything production wise to work. Comedy films are so easy to mess up, too. Jokes can so easily fall flat. In this movie, every joke hits. He was the perfect guy for this job and a lot of the credit for how great this movie is goes to Vogt-Roberts. I think this is one of the best young directors in the game right now, and I will certainly look forward to his future projects.

I loved this film. I encourage everyone to go see it. It was the hardest I've laughed in a comedy in a long time, which is certainly the goal of the genre. There were few minor issues in it, but it doesn't detract from the overall film.

The Kings of Summer gets a 4.75/5. It's hilarious, it's dramatic, and it's a nearly perfect movie.

The Kings of Summer will be in theaters in limited release on May 31st. Rated R for language and some teen drinking. Run Time 93 minutes. You can follow Will Harmon on Twitter at @willharmon8