[6][7][8] Joe Toy, on the verge of being a young man, finds himself increasingly frustrated by the attempts of his single father, Frank, to manage his life.

After a family game night ends with Joe calling the cops on Frank for false reasons, he declares freedom once and for all.

He escapes to a clearing he found in the woods, along with his best friend, Patrick, also sick of his life at home with his annoying parents, and a strange boy named Biaggio who just happened to tag along.

The screenplay by Chris Galletta, originally titled Toy's House, appeared in the 2009 edition of The Black List, an annual survey of the most popular unfilmed scripts amongst studio and production executives.

[10] Filming took place in the summer of 2012 in various locations across Ohio, including Cleveland, Chagrin Falls, Lyndhurst and South Pointe Hospital in Warrensville.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Thanks to charming performances and endearingly off-kilter spirit, The Kings of Summer proves to be a slight, sweet entry in the crowded coming-of-age genre.

"[20] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[21] Sheila O'Malley of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "despite some beautiful sequences and solid acting, the script by first-timer Chris Galletta pulls its punches, over-explains the emotional meaning of its moments, and tries to lighten the mood in sometimes awkward sit-com-style ways, betraying the movie's more honest spirit.

"[10] Upon the film's August 2013 UK release, Mike McCahill of The Guardian said "If David Gordon Green had made Son of Rambow, it might have looked something like this: a sunny and reasonably funny coming-of-ager"; he concluded "The director's background in online shorts manifests itself in an occasional, montage-heavy scattiness, and the broadly conventional closing act can't quite maintain the laugh rate, but there's a lot of warm-hearted and commendably daft business along the way.