Very enjoyable coming-of-age flick. Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso and Moises Arias play three teenagers in the summer after their freshman year of high school. Robinson and Basso, in particular, have become increasingly annoyed with their parents (Nick Offerman, in his best film role yet, plays Robinson's gruff, single father and Megan Mullally (Offerman's wife) and Marc Evan Jackson play Basso's ditzy parents). They decide to run away, build a house deep in the forest and live by themselves. The film is quirky in a funny (not annoying) way, and the first half of it is about the funniest thing I've seen all year. The second half is a bit more dramatic and probably more conventional: Erin Moriarty, a girl whom Robinson has a crush on, discovers the boys' plan and starts to hang out with them. She falls for Basso instead, upsetting the friendship. I kind of wish it had remained more comic, but it's still quite good. The performances here are ace. Offerman is probably the best. No, it's not an especially different role than his Ron Swanson from the sitcom Parks & Recreation, but he's given a lot of depth. The funniest sequence in the film has him arguing with deliveryman Kumail Nanjiani (a huge comic talent whose potential will surely someday be realized, most likely on a network sitcom) about the size of his restaurant's dumplings. Of the kids, Arias gets the most laughs as a goofy looking kid who is often mistaken for a psycho. Alison Brie, of Community and Mad Men fame, also appears as Robinson's older sister, but unfortunately she doesn't have much to do. The film is really well shot and directed. I especially loved the use of slow motion. This is a keeper.
Review of The Kings of Summer
