One of my favourite things to do on my rare day off with the boyfriend (normally once a fortnight!) is just bum around watching DVDs (in the winter – in the summer we go exploring!). We’ve seen some belters in the last few weeks and we continued the trend with The Kings of Summer. You may have noticed that my favourite films tend to be those that come with the ‘Official Sundance Selection’ tag – the likes of Clerks, Little Miss Sunshine, Memento, Reservoir Dogs, Boyhood – so it was bound to be right up my street.
It’s a sort of modern day Stand By Me without the dead body. Joe and Patrick have had enough of their parents and decide to build their own home in the woods for the summer – without telling them where they’re going, of course. Lovable weirdo Biaggio tags along and object of their affections Kelly pops up from time to time, threatening to destroy their friendship. So far so Napoleon Dynamite – typical high school flick with a good dose of quirk.
What I liked most about the film, aside from the soundtrack, cinematography, hilarious one-liners and increasingly lovable Biaggio, was the premise itself. In any other indie teen flick, there would be a temptation to concoct a more serious reason for the boys to want to run away. Here it’s just regular teenage issues – they need a bit of space. Their parents aren’t bad people but they just don’t understand their kids (a bit John Hughes-esque). When they appear on the news as missing people it almost gets a bit too serious but screenwriter Chris Galletta keeps it light-hearted enough to keep you on the boys’ side.
If you’ve been stuck in a bit of a Hollywood blockbuster rut lately, you definitely need to add this to your To Watch list.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWZwfixftlA]