Critic’s Choice: ‘Wilderpeople’ is quickly finding a summer audience

It’s got an awkward title and a rambunctious spirit that is difficult to accurately describe, but “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is fast becoming the independent film word-of-mouth hit of the summer, and deservedly so.

Directed by New Zealand’s Taika Waititi, this wacky story of the way-unlikely alliance between an overweight reprobate of a teenager and a surly, wilderness loving loner is elevated by its marvelous acting. Veteran Sam Neill, never better, plays the curmudgeon, yet his 13-year-old costar Julian Dennison almost steals the picture from him.

This wonderful New Zealand film has a gently absurdist quality, a simultaneously sweet and subversive sensibility all its own, mixing warmth, adventure and comedy in ways that consistently surprise. Don’t miss it.