The Kings of Summer – 4/5 stars

Fed up with living under their parents’ roof and their rules, three teenage boys decide to run away from home and build their own house out in the forest. There they can make their own rules and have the freedom to live however they please.

Something about this movie just illustrates that childhood fantasy that I think a lot of people have: going out into the woods with your friends and building a house to live in. I don’t know, maybe that was just me. But I find myself watching this movie at the start of every summer because of it.

For the most part, The Kings of Summer is probably just an OK coming-of-age movie, but I still really enjoyed it each time I watch it. I don’t know how well it’ll stand up to classics like Stand By Me, or other coming-of-age movies, but something about the story just resonates with me. With this most recent viewing, I noticed the amazing cinematography and how beautiful some of the shots were of the forest along, the great soundtrack, and I enjoyed seeing the boys just being boys together by being free and having a good time (here’s a clip to see what I mean).

All of the actors did a great job portraying their roles. Moises Arias was the star of this film and played Biaggio as a hilarious weirdo who was cracking me up the whole time. Nick Robinson, playing Joe, also did a great job as this was his film debut before getting Jurassic World in 2015. The movie also featured a bunch of other actors I recognized like Nick Offerman (Parks and Rec), Erin Moriarty (The Boys), as well as smaller appearances with Lili Reinhart, Tony Hale, and Kumali Nanjiani.

While this movie shows how awesome it’d be to run away and build a house in the woods with your friends, it also shows that this isn’t the answer to solving your problems in life.

I would rate this movie 4/5 stars. Overall, I think there is something in this movie that everyone can relate to and would highly recommend checking it out. It is currently available on Amazon Prime, and has been for years. There’s a reason I keep coming back to watch it, and to know why, you’ll just have to go and experience it yourself.