Film

The Kings of Summer

Name: The Kings of Summer
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2013
Cast: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moisés Arias, Nick Offerman, Erin Moriarty

Coming-of-age

A funny, tender coming-of-age film about three teenage boys who abandon their homes to build a secret house in the woods and live free for a summer. It captures the exhilaration and fragility of adolescent friendship with real warmth, balancing comedy and genuine emotion. A film about the gulf between who you want to be and who you actually are.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love coming-of-age stories where the comedy is loose and observational, and the wildness of adolescent friendship feels more true than tidy, with a warm streak of melancholy running underneath.

Skip it if you want a tight plot with steady escalation, since this one drifts through its summer in episodes and some stretches are more about mood and mischief than about where things are headed.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a leisurely ninety-five minutes that spends its time on small moments between the boys, with the humor arriving sideways rather than on cue.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Moonrise Kingdom2012

Wes Anderson's whimsical tale of young love and escape shares the same dreamy tone and visual inventiveness. It's about kids creating their own world outside adult constraints, with equal parts humor and melancholy.

But Anderson's aesthetic is so deliberately constructed it can feel cold or precious, and the quirkiness might overshadow the emotional core you're seeking.

Stand by Me1986

The template for this kind of film: boys on an adventure that becomes a story about friendship, mortality, and growing up. Perfectly balanced between comedy and genuine heartbreak, with real warmth beneath the nostalgia.

But It's been imitated so much that seeing it now can feel familiar even if you haven't seen it. Some pacing drags in the middle.

The Fault in Our Stars2014

Another film about teenagers finding freedom and intensity in their own world, outside parental structures. It has the same mix of lightness and real stakes, with young leads who feel like actual people rather than types.

But The emotional beats are signposted clearly; if you're not in the mood for that kind of earnest sentiment, it'll feel calculated rather than earned.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Kings of Summer

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Over the Garden Wall2014

Both use the woods as a place where normal rules don't apply and friendship becomes the only structure that matters. Both are about what happens when the fantasy of escape meets reality.

A miniseries that captures the same mythic quality of boys disappearing into the woods, but through a fairytale lens. It has the same sense of adventure turning strange and a bit unsettling, with genuine darkness alongside beauty.

But It's animated and deliberately creepy rather than comedic, and only ninety minutes total—some will find it incomplete rather than perfectly compact.

Adventureland2009

Greg Mottola captures teenage aimlessness and the desperate need to figure out who you are before adulthood closes in. It's funny and sad in nearly equal measure, with a genuine eye for how friendships shift.

But Not much happens; it's more about mood than plot. If you need momentum or big set pieces, this will feel slow.

The Way Back2010

Same year, similar spirit: a film about a misfit teenager finding his place through friendship and summer freedom. Warm, funny, and genuinely moving without feeling manipulative about any of it.

But The resolution is fairly neat and tidy; it doesn't have the bittersweet edge some viewers want from coming-of-age stories.

My Own Private Idaho1991

Gus Van Sant's portrait of two young men on the margins, creating their own logic and loyalty in a world that doesn't want them. Raw, poetic, and uncompromising about friendship and belonging.

But It's much darker and stranger; there's drug use, sex work, and genuine despair alongside the intimacy. Not a comfortable watch, and shot in a deliberately fragmentary style.

Rushmore1998

Anderson's earlier, looser film about a teenager building an elaborate fantasy world and the complicated friendships that sustain it. Sharper and more chaotic than *Moonrise Kingdom*, with real affection for its oddball hero.

But The tone is harder to pin down, which some find refreshing and others find scattered. It's also very much of its era in ways that don't always age gracefully.

American Honey2016

Andrea Arnold follows a group of young drifters on a road trip, capturing the exhilaration and emptiness of youth trying to escape. Visually stunning and genuinely alive to how friendships feel when everything's at stake.

But It's nearly three hours, plotless, and mostly observational. Some will find it transcendent; others will find it exhausting and self-indulgent.

Submarine2011

Richard Ayoade's debut about an awkward teenager navigating first love and friendship while his parents' marriage crumbles. It's tender and funny, with a distinctive visual style that complements its emotional specificity.

But The protagonist's self-absorption can be off-putting, and the humor is quite dry and British in a way that doesn't land for everyone.

Swiss Army Man2016

Both are comedies about male friendship and belonging that use adventure in nature as a catalyst for real emotional honesty. Both find profundity in crude, physical humor.

An utterly bizarre film about a lonely man and the corpse of a stranger becoming unexpected friends while crossing a wilderness. Gross, genuine, hilarious, and oddly moving—a celebration of male friendship and connection that goes nowhere conventional.

But It's a film about a dead body being used as a tool in increasingly graphic ways. If the central conceit repels you, nothing else will matter.

The Florida Project2017

Both follow kids building their own world and their own rules, but *The Florida Project* shows what happens when that world has real consequences. Where *Kings of Summer* is about the fantasy of escape, this is about kids for whom there's nowhere safe to escape to.

Sean Baker's film follows kids in a motel community creating magic from deprivation, finding freedom and joy in the margins while their parents struggle. It captures childhood agency and friendship with real tenderness and zero sentimentality.

But It's set in poverty and ends in genuine heartbreak. This is a film about the systems that crush childhood dreams, and it doesn't offer comfort—just unflinching compassion.