The Kings of Summer
Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Cast: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Kumail Nanjiani, Megan Mullally
Running Time: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: R
Release Date: June 7, 2013 (Chicago)
PLOT: Three teenage boys (Robinson, Basso, and Arias) flee from their adolescent pressures and build a house in the woods.
WHO'S IT FOR? If you missed Moonrise Kingdom last year, and are stuck at the art house only wanting to see movies with comedians you recognize, then Kings of Summer will be a good choice. But if you're looking for invigorating season entertainment? Look elsewhere.
OVERALL
The Kings of Summer really, really, really wants you to like it, and will do anything to make that so. This indie knows everything its audience previously embraced in more genuine movies, and throws it right back at us like we're stylistic saps, instantly disarmed by J.J. Abrams-like lens flares mixed with Terrence Malick-like nature shots, or helpless to embrace something that looks like Wes Anderson doing assistant directing for Napoleon Dynamite. This is the same type of experience Moonrise Kingdom offered last year, but in comparison, this is the fool's version.
With its purportedly relatable story, Kings of Summer achieves a disturbing amount of dishonesty rather than honesty. The angst of its teenage characters is raised from believable to over-exaggerated, and not because a house is built by a young man who can barely make a good birdhouse. Like the house constructed in the film, this movie is not assembled by exciting imagination, but the urgency to be as wholly acceptable as possible. Sacrificing even the notion of genuineness for the sake of such acceptance, Kings of Summer is itself not clever construction constructed from raw parts, but a shabby assemblage of wholesale pieces from the indie store.
Along with style, Kings of Summer wants to coast on its cameo list of recognizable comedians, brought into this movie for a scene or two which do provide the movie's stronger moments. Offerman with his unquestionable masculinity is compelling as a stern father, his distinctive dry comedy still in use. He is joined by other not-as-impacting appearances, such as that of Megan Mullally, Alison Brie, Tony Hale, and Kumail Nanjiani. The latter gets an extended scene opposite Offerman, with no relation to the rest of the movie. This scene is awkwardly set-up like other ugly bits of this movie, but it is at least followed through with comedy that has genuine personality, instead of being the simple composite of one another.
Even more of a plant than the comedians brought into this movie to fill up a poster and provide genuine laughs is one of the main characters. Actor Arias can't successfully carry out his loud comedic timing from wacky laugh-track children's comedy to hyper reality goofiness. Eventually this contrived creation amongst two other friends that at least sounds real on paper is nothing but a device for jokes that are duds.
Working opposite Arias and the comedians are Basso and Robinson, the two being best when sharing a scene together, offering bits of honesty to the irrational emotions of teenage boys. In two instances, the duo find the ridiculousness in the passing aggressions of their type, offering a good middle finger bonding scene at the end.
For a movie that's bread and butter is real emotions through a comedic angle, The Kings of Summer is too eager to exploit both aspects from a crowd it simply wants to please. The problem with The Kings of Summer shamelessly flaunting its influences in every shot, while trying to desperately force its comedy onto its audience, is not just a problem of a glaring lack of originality, but something uglier. It is that of soullessness.
FINAL SCORE: 3/10