''Summering'' is a 2022 American

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

co-written, directed, and produced by

James Ponsoldt James Adam Ponsoldt (born 1978) is an American film director, actor and screenwriter. He directed the drama films ''Off the Black'' (2006) and '' Smashed'' (2012), the romantic comedy-drama ''The Spectacular Now'' (2013), and the dramas ''The End ...

. It stars Lia Barnett,

Lake Bell Lake Siegel Bell (born March 24, 1979) is an American actress, screenwriter and director. She has starred in various television series, including ''Boston Legal'' (2004–2006), ''Surface'' (2005–2006), ''How to Make It in America'' (2010–20 ...

, Sarah Cooper,

Ashley Madekwe Ashley Madekwe (; born 6 December 1983) is a British actress. She is well known for her roles as call girl Bambi in the ITV2 series ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'', social climber Ashley Davenport on the ABC drama series ''Revenge'' and the wit ...

Madalen Mills Madalen Mills (born January 2009) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Journey in the 2020 Netflix Christmas musical film '' Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey''. She also appeared in the 2022 film ''The Tiger Rising''. Mills ...

Megan Mullally Megan Mullally (born November 12, 1958) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is best known for playing Karen Walker on the NBC sitcom '' Will & Grace'' (1998–2006, 2017–2020), for which she received eight Primetime Emmy Award ...

, Eden Grace Redfield, and Sanai Victoria. It was released on August 12, 2022, by

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which ...

Plot summary

The weekend prior to the beginning of middle school, which are the last days of their childhood and summer, four girls struggling with the harsh reality of growing up find themselves embarking on a mysterious adventure.

Cast

* Lia Barnett as Daisy *

as Dina * Eden Grace Redfield as Mari * Sanai Victoria as Lola *

as Stacie *

as Laura *

as Joy * Sarah Cooper as Karna * Dale McKeel as Daisy's Dad * Willow Corner-Bettwieser as Carol

Release

In August 2021, it was announced that

and

Stage 6 Films Stage 6 Films, Inc. is an American film production label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions that acquires and produces feature films that are low budget and that are being released straight-to-DVD, on demand, or through streaming services. So ...

have acquired American and international distribution rights to the film respectively. The film premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

on January 22, 2022. It was originally scheduled to be released on July 15, 2022 and it was delayed by August 12, 2022.

Reception

The film has a 34% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

based on 68 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Summering'' is a harmless enough coming-of-age story, but there are far superior -- and far less saccharine -- entries in this crowded genre."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

rated the film a 50 out of 100 based on 17 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Pete Hammond of ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, w ...

'' gave the film a positive review and wrote, "There are things to talk about ''after'' the movie ends. And it doesn’t ever talk down to its intended audience. If anything, the adults are the ones desperately in need of connecting with their inner kid." Fred Topel of

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the ...

also gave the film a positive review and wrote, "''Summering'' is like a female Amblin movie." Guy Lodge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Too much of ''Summering'', however, plays out in an unsatisfying middle ground: embedded neither in real life, nor in its heroines’ restless, malleable imaginations." Angie Han of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' also gave the film a negative review and wrote, "But alas, its potential for magic is dulled by uneven performances, unconvincing chemistry and an uninspiring script." Natalia Winkelman of

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

graded the film a C− and wrote, "As is, ''Summering'' is too scattered and silly for us to really care."

References

External links

* * {{James Ponsoldt 2022 films 2022 drama films American coming-of-age drama films 2022 independent films Films directed by James Ponsoldt 2020s coming-of-age drama films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films Bleecker Street films Stage 6 Films films