Summer '03 (2018) Reviews

• Joey King Just Got a New Fan

  moviebuffchick2018-04-07

  As a movie buff, I've seen Joey King around enough to know who she was before walking into this movie. But THIS role was seemingly made for her. From beginning to end, she did a phenomenal job.... effortlessly portraying Jamie.... a 16y/o girl whose rather blunt... (or RUDE - depending on how you look at it) grandmother revealed quite a few "family secrets" on her deathbed. A couple of which sent this otherwise normal family spinning out of control. Various coming of age themes were explored (love, loss, virginity, sex positivity, friendship, growth, overcoming fears, fights with parents & friends, unforgettable summers, etc) with just a little more bluntness and vulgarity than you might be used to... particularly coming from a female protagonist (this was a good thing... trust me). The entire cast was awesome... they had great chemistry and there were several scenes that you could tell they had a lot of fun filming together. This was a great coming of age film that I enjoyed much more than I could've possibly imagined. Great job to writer/director Becca Gleason... she nailed this one!

• Not a comedy

  bweber62019-01-13

  I don't remember laughing once. Good acting, bad story.

• Another coming-of-age within a dysfunctional family

  paul-allaer2018-10-11

  "Summer '03" (2018 release; 95 min.) brings the story of Jamie, a 15 or 16 yr. old high school student in Cincinnati, and her family. As the movie opens, after a voice -over with summer thoughts ("summer is a generic string of happy memories"), we find Jamie sitting by her grandma in the hospital. In her last moments, grandma divulges several family secrets to Jamie, and then to her dad. It leaves the family bewildered. Following grandma's death, Jamie stops by a catholic church, where she meets Luke. He is about to be ordained into the priesthood later in the week, but the two hit it off immediately... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out, Couple of comments: this is written and directed by up-and-coming Becca Gleason, who graduated in 2006 from Indian High School here in Cincinnati (where I live). While there are a number of spoken references (including to "St.X', which would be St. Xavier, the all-boys Jesuit high school), don't look for any Cincinnati landmarks (the movie was filmed in Georgia). Gleason brings a familiar theme, a conflicted girl coming-of-age in a dysfunctional family (and I'm being mild). The movie is helped by the charming lead performance of Joey King as Jamie. But that's really about it. There are too many scenes that have a 'done by the numbers" feeling. And the yelling! It seems Jamie's parents are, literally, yelling throughout the movie. I can't help but compare this to another recent coming of age movie, the brilliant "Eighth Grade", which outshines "Summer '03" by a mile or two and on every level. "Summer '03" opened last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Wednesday early evening screening where I saw this at turned out to be a private screening, as in: I literally was the only person in the theater. I honestly can't see this playing in theaters very long. If you are interested in coming-of-age movies, and you keep your expectations in check, I'd suggest you seek out "Summer '03", be it in the theater (not very likely at this point), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

• Long winded and trashy

  npjy832019-02-04

  If you are a fan of the American Pie movies then you may enjoy this movie, if you were not a fan, you won't enjoy this movie. A lot of sexual references throughout, quite explicit in some scenes, very cringy at times, very anti-Semitism in some scenes which I don't normally notice in movies, unnecessary and high content use of swearing where it wasn't needed. A long winded story that didn't evolve into anything. Quite trashy. One funny scene at the end which made me laugh, didn't laugh anywhere else within the movie, and just teenage drab throughout. The story could have been made better and funnier. I wouldn't watch it again. I kept looking at the timestamp to see when it would eventually finish. Had contemplated turning it off half way through, but endured it to the end. 3 stars as acting was okay.

• wrong name for great events

  asommgerhi2019-01-30

  Such black comedy movie also the name conflicts with the movie's events it was should be attractive name,this 16-year-old girl behaved spontaneously and did not know what she exactly wanted, but she discovered a lot of mysterious things in the other that you can say are stupid things because of that you push yourself into actions you do not want, and all that with black comedy which was pretty fun.