The Kings of Summer

Three unhappy teenagers run away from the sophisticated city life and take refuge in nature, where they plan to build a makeshift home and live off the land, to finally be masters of their own destiny. Once you arrive at your destination, you make it reality, however, realize that the wild is much tougher as the imagined.

Biaggio (Moises Arias), the very rare embodiment of social awkwardness and complete and total lack of personal sophistication teenager, that invokes a combination of amazement, bewilderment, and pity simultaneously from the common viewer. It's a role that cannot be explained...only watched. He is quite possibly one of the best comedic performances I have ever seen a young performer give. It's a wonderfully bizarre role that fully encompasses both the awkwardness and the sincerity of a social misfit. The role is so over-the-top that it's amazing that Arias can make it look so natural and genuine. His acting was spot on and absolutely hilarious. Loved it!

"We do swear, under pain of friendship lost, to never speak of this enterprise to any adults; to never betray its location or its participants." Joe (Robinson) and Patrick (Basso) both hate their lives at home. Living with over bearing parents are making them crazy and when they are pushed too far they decide to move out. The find a place in the middle of the woods and build their own house. The two of them along with a young boy who they are afraid to tell to go away start off on a experience that effects each one differently. This is an example of a movie where the trailer doesn't do the movie justice. This is an excellent and must see movie for all teenagers for a few reasons. One is because it shows that their parents aren't as bad as they seem compared to these. I could go on and on about this but the best way to describe this is a Stand By Me for a new generation. This is is movie that just needs to be seen rather then read about. Also the kid that plays Biaggio really steals the movie and is so much fun to watch. Overall, a must see for young teens and parents. I highly recommend. I easily give it an A.

Toy's House was an interesting film following what most teenage kids wish...A kid who finally breaks free from his parents control. Joe Toy and his friend Patrick get fed up with their parents and decide to build a house in the woods to live in.

I really enjoyed this movie. It seemed to have the right mix of comedy and drama to keep you engaged the whole movie. Watching a couple of teenage boys try and survive in the woods was a lot of fun, and Nick Offerman as Joe's dad was a lot of fun as well. The biggest thing to note, is that while this is billed as a comedy, it was definitely more than that. The emotional aspect of this movie was everything you come to expect from a movie that has to sale itself with a great story, like most films at Sundance, which made it all that more fun.

Three kids, feeling their way through the anxieties of their mid-teens, get together to build a summer retreat in the woods and escape from a droll season in their parents' homes. It's hearty and funny, a great reminder of the unseen handcuff between independence and responsibility that floats into our lives at that age. The grown-ups are particularly hilarious as stiff, out-of-touch caricatures; everything we see them as during adolescence, rolled up and amplified by a few degrees. Moises Arias is the best of the young actors, playing a weird McLovin type who somehow falls into the partnership with two long-term buddies. His heavy gaze alone is usually enough to get me chuckling, and the cryptic, emotionally-detached lines that usually sprout from his lips moments later are absurdity at its best. It can get a little self-absorbed at times, and spirals off into navel-gazing in the third act, but for a good stretch in the middle it's prime coming-of-age goodness.

"The Kings of Summer" is a film you need to accept on its own terms. It's not a Hollywood production, it has a relatively low budget and it has a few plot problems. Sure, the characters might not be 100% believable or even really that likable--but, if you sit back and watch it with modest expectations, you'll find the good easily outweighs the bad.

The film is about two disaffected teens. Both hate it at home and they want to get out...but how? When one comes up with an insane plan to move into the woods and build their own shack, the other, reluctantly comes along for the plan. There is a third--and that kid, Biaggio, is a real cipher. He's bizarre and in the film mostly for comic relief--though I found myself liking him the best of the three. But when he disappears, no one seems to notice...he's that sort of a kid. But the two main characters are initially happy and their running away seems to be working out well...at least for a time.

Overall, this is a film that folks who only enjoy traditional movies will probably NOT like very much. As for me, I have a higher than normal tolerance for the unusual and found a lot of nice performances and moments in the film. Worth seeing and clever.