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The Kings of Summer

The Kings of Summer

Comedy · Drama · 2013

Three restless teenagers run away to the woods for the summer, determined to escape their parents and live by their own rules. In a hidden clearing, they build a makeshift house and attempt to create an independent life, testing their friendship, freedom, and the challenges of living off the land.

Movie details

The Kings of Summer

“Why live when you can rule.”

2013 Comedy · Drama 1h 35m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

85.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

76 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

61 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Three restless teenagers run away to the woods for the summer, determined to escape their parents and live by their own rules. In a hidden clearing, they build a makeshift house and attempt to create an independent life, testing their friendship, freedom, and the challenges of living off the land.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Kings of Summer?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Written by

Chris Galletta

Nick Robinson

Nick Robinson

Joe Toy

Gabriel Basso

Gabriel Basso

Patrick Keenan

Moisés Arias

Moisés Arias

Biaggio

Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman

Frank Toy

Erin Moriarty

Erin Moriarty

Kelly

Craig Cackowski

Craig Cackowski

Mr. Larson

Alison Brie

Alison Brie

Heather Toy

Court is in session

Put The Kings of Summer on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.