I spent several years as a teenage boy in the not too distant past. It was a strange, confusing yet momentous time of my life and one that movies seem to have a hard time recreating. The problem seems to be that they have too much respect for teenage boys. Films from Rebel Without a Cause to The Perks of Being a Wallflower have portrayed them as nobly misunderstood figures, romantic outcasts full of poetic feelings that they can’t quite manage to express. This is probably how they see themselves but in reality they’re mostly inarticulate, self-absorbed idiots whose only interests are girls and being left alone.
Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ debut is a refreshing movie about teenagers that may romanticize their experiences but doesn’t sugar-coat their personalities. It’s tale of three friends so sick of their parents that they pledge to build their own house in the Ohio wilderness in order to live off the land and become men. It’s undoubtedly wish fulfilment for many 15-year-old boys but the characters are realistic portrayals of suburban, middle-class 15 year old boys i.e. they’re rude, entitled little shits.
Joe (Nick Robinson) is living with his dad (Nick Offerman) following his parents’ divorce. His father is understandably (from a sensitive adult perspective anyway) depressed and angry about the situation but the way Joe sees it he’s become an unbearable tyrant, one who forces him to meet his new girlfriend and take part in family games of Monopoly. Patrick (Gabriel Basso) sees his perfectly pleasant parents as morbidly embarrassing. His whole body contorts with mortification at everything they say. At one point he cracks and screams, “Nobody likes vegetable soup!, when his mum makes the outrageous suggestion that he might have some.
Both performances are cringingly accurate and hilarious representations of the shallow obnoxiousness of teenagers that draw our sympathies despite not trying to. The boys steal and vandalise in order to build their woodland getaway but still somehow remain likeable. The only thing that didn’t ring entirely true to me is how articulate they are in their withering putdowns of their parents and each other. Chris Galleta’s script is consistently witty in a way most teenage boys are not; but then a script made up of incoherent grunts and mumbled swear words wouldn’t have worked.
The third member of the outcast troop, Biaggio (Moses Arias), is a less recognisable figure; he’s a very strange young man with wild eyes who doesn’t think of himself as having a gender and confuses homosexuality with cystic fibrosis. He’s the most broadly comedic character but it’s not accurate to describe him as the comic relief because just about every character is funny. The Kings of Summer straddles the line between raucous comedy and poignant drama in a way other teen comedies like Superbad never quite managed. It allows you to laugh at its protagonists while still caring about their troubles.
The Kings of Summer has been drawing a lot of comparisons to Stand By Me; which is an obvious influence with its group of friends on a journey of discovery in the woods. It also reminded me of Shane Meadows’ A Room For Romeo Brass, which also explored the ultimate tragedy of young male friendship as they’re forced to grow up and grow apart. And like that film it’s also beautifully shot. Vogt-Roberts photographs nature with Terence Malick like reverence and the film has a dreamy quality; like everyone’s memory of their perfect summer.
So many comedy films these days are raucous, rowdy affairs that seem to want to bully audiences into laughing along with them so The Kings of Summer stands out by being funny and gently touching at its own wistful pace. It’s the kind of film that sneaks its way into your thoughts after you’ve seen it and is hopefully the forerunner for a long career of similarly special movies from Jordan Vogt-Roberts.
Overall Verdict: A very funny, nostalgic, beautifully shot and refreshingly honest coming-of-age drama that will maintain its’ magic through countless repeat viewings and is definitely worth owning.
Special Features:
Behind the Scenes featurette
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon