Released in Europe under the considerably less generic title Last Of The High Kings, Summer Fling tells the tale of an Irish teenager (Jared Leto) who comes of age during the summer of 1977. While waiting to receive the test scores that will determine his immediate future, Leto pals around with his buddies, pines for a pair of beautiful local girls, and comes to terms with his eccentric family, including his absent-but-loving actor father (Gabriel Byrne) and his fiercely patriotic, strong-willed mother (Catherine O'Hara). Based on a novel by Irish writer Ferdia MacAnna, Summer Fling is a pleasant, unpretentious, ultimately uninvolving film that hews so closely to the conventions of the coming-of-age film that it verges on self-parody. From its twinkly, wistful narration to its aspiring-novelist protagonist, to the pop-culture event that parallels Leto's loss of innocence (in this case the death of Elvis), Summer Fling is careful to utilize each and every convention of the genre. Its ending, in particular, is a veritable roller coaster of coming-of-age movie tropes. Likewise, the film's portrayal of the Irish is surprisingly stereotypical: Leto's hometown is a haven for colorful, hard-living eccentrics, from the tale-weaving taxi-driver (Stephen Rea) to the colorfully loony local politician (Colm Meaney). The film's supporting roles are generally handled nicely, but Leto is a washout as the film's wistful protagonist, and O'Hara gives an almost embarrassingly over-the-top performance as his conservative, Protestant-hating mother.