Eighth Grade (2018)

The coming of age genre can typically one of two ways. It's either a pile of steeming garbage like The 5th Wave and Allegiant, or it's a profound masterpiece like The Spectacular Now and The Way Way Back. There's typically no middle ground. Eighth Grade is thankfully one of the ladder, and is one of the best films of 2018. Director, Bo Burnham, who is a social media/YouTube star on his own, makes a film about a young girl in the last week of 8th grade as she navigates peer pressure, physical changes, and just about everything else that comes with being in junior high. It comes at a perfect time, when our world is so devoured and obsessed with social media and the opinions & approvals of others, especially our closest peers. Elsie Fisher plays Kayla, the socially awkward but undeniably charming protagonist, and she gives the perfect performance. She balances those two characteristics effortlessly well and brings a certain amount of relatability to Kayla that is truly hard to find in actors. There isn't much plot or unique arc that makes the film as mainstream most coming of age dramas, but it's one of those slice of life films that provides a distinct take on a pivotal time in someone's life.9.0/10

I am a grandmother and my kids did not have the social media issues that kids have not. I really think this was a fair presentation of what life is like for so many kids not. Kayla is not one of the popular girls - she does a video on things that interest her and has a few followers. She is trying to boost her self esteem and that is so true to life. The whole film is from Kayla's viewpoint, her reactions to friends and non-friends is so real. The pay attention to me but don't pay attention to me is so well shown. The relationship between father and daughter is beautiful and real. Elsie Fisher is so perfect for this role. Bo Burnham succeeds in his first writing and directing - can't wait to see what else he does. Thank you for making this such an honest film.

Eighth Grade certainly stands out as one of the more authentic portrayals of what the millennial middle school experience must be like. It primarily examines the profound impact social media has had on the preteen and adolescent experience and does a frequently wonderful job of weaving social media into the fabric of the film. Early on comes an excellent montage of our socially inhibited protagonist sitting on her bed, earbuds secured, face illuminated by her phone, colorful and bright social media app images superimposed over her vacant, even troubled expression, likes and comments flowing through her fingertips, pop music blaring. It's a great example of a director harnessing the film medium to make a statement which would've otherwise needed a mass of words to properly articulate.The film is at it's best when it's in this headspace, capturing the experience of today's middle schooler with both insight and humor. Take perhaps its best sequence in which Kayla apprehensively attends a scornful classmate's birthday party filled with kids she doesn't know. Here the film fires on all cylinders and offers a barrage of effective choices and moments: use of voiceover from Kayla's YouTube channel to add weight to the harsh reality of her loneliness, cringy and effective humor in the awkward interactions between her and her crush, the way in which Kayla is constantly framed as separate from the mass of kids enjoying themselves, and that absolutely painful moment of silence when her classmate opens up Kayla's birthday gift which has to be one of the most potently uncomfortable scenes I've watched this year. As a whole this sequence not only entertains, it builds empathy and is executed with a realism that forces you to stew in Kayla's discomfort. Perhaps it'll even bubble up emotions from a similar experience you may have had growing up.But there are times when the film veers somewhat off course. It may simply be a matter of taste, but some of the humor just didn't land with me. So much of the film's strength is in its authenticity and the comedy at times becomes overblown in a way that detracts from the realism. The banana scene, for instance, or the somewhat forced conversation between Kayla and her crush under the desk during the shooting drill - these are moments that feel more like SNL sketches than genuine middle school experiences. Too often the movie overreaches for laughs when restraint may have served it better. It also struggles to fully satisfy narratively with later would-be "climatic" moments which feel somewhat unearned and abrupt. A great example of this is the scene where Kayla confronts her condescending classmates towards the conclusion which comes out-of-left-field and feels like it was shoved into the film for the sake of providing some sort of unnecessary "closure."In the grand scheme, these shortcomings aren't enough to overshadow the film's many successes. It stands out as a notable and insightful film on the subject and is certainly worth the watch even it doesn't stick every landing.Strong 3.5/5

As a fan of Bo Burnham since he was posting rap songs on YouTube, I am proud to say he made a pretty solid directorial debut with Eighth Grade. Firstly, as anticipated, this movie is hilarious as hell, and the comedy written in is quite smart as well. And even though the comedy is sharp and witty and IMDb classifies this film as a comedy, I don't think Bo's intentions were to make the audience guffaw. To me, it felt more like a drama with comedic elements thrown in, and I really like that decision. It gave the appearance that he had a message to get across to any struggling eighth grader out there, or even any sort of adult because the theme is quite universal (and kind of trite in the way he portrayed it, but I'll discuss that later), that hope always lays on the horizon, and I'm glad that he was passionate enough about this message that he didn't want to smother it in comedy, even though he could have done so quite easily. While I'm praising the writing, I ought to applaud Bo on the fact that he has a really good eye for watching and scribing how people interact, and teens of this age are so complex to write, especially of this age, it's honestly a miracle he was able to portray them this accurately and consistently for the entire movie. Like I worked at a Boy Scout summer camp for the entirety of this summer and by being around kids this age for like two months, I can say he really hit the nail on the head with how they act - the memes, the social media, the cliques, all of it. I wouldn't be surprised if this movie is seen as a sort of time capsule of this era for future generations, similar to what Dazed and Confused is today. But regardless of all the trends that will inevitably pass, the relatability of blossoming human emotions at this age, and coping with who you want to be in life is explored beautifully and will definitely stand the test of time. I definitely felt for Elsie Fisher, who plays Kayla Day, the eponymous eighth grader of the film, and does an amazing job for such a young actress, as she stood in the bathroom working up the courage to enter a party of strangers who thought she was weird. Or as she called to have her dad pick her up early. Or as she explored crushes, and her boundaries in an incredibly frightening scene towards the end of the movie. (I'd like to address this scene as I felt it was incredibly well done and made me feel super anxious as I'm sure Kayla felt in the moment. But the downside is that its inclusion confused me a little bit? I'm sure it happens in life, but if you take the scene completely out of the movie, it doesn't affect anything, which it definitely would have in real life. This is the one major pit fall in the writing.) Generally just the sense of trying to fit in. And while the film was enjoyable while it explored this theme, it did it in a very lowest common denominator way which was quite disappointing. I found that even though this movie was only an hour and a half long, it started really dragging at some point because there were so many scenes I had seen a million times and the end was so predictable. And compounding on that, the shot composition of the film was quite bland too and that likely contributed as well because the visual department was lacking. Swiss Army Man from 2016 explored many of the same themes of self-discovery in a much more interesting way and it ended up becoming one of my favorites from that year. It's a fine line that needs walked when handling a message that's been used since Shakespeare ("Above all, to thine own self, be true."). And that's a little disappointing coming from Bo Burnham because I know what he's capable of and I feel like he could have done so much more with this movie. But maybe I'm expecting too much out of his debut because it really isn't that bad. I hope he learns a lot from this movie and perfects his craft in the time in between his next movie. Watching him evolve and accomplish so much at such a young age is incredibly inspiring and I can't wait to see what Bo does next!