BlazeLime
Strong and Moving!
Pacionsbo
Absolutely Fantastic
Humaira Grant
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
emmawatts-05514
With all the rave reviews, I was expecting Eighth Grade to become one of my favorite movies. However, it fell incredibly short of my expectations. The main character was extremely annoying, the plot was dull and slow paced, and the overall movie was cringey to say the least. While the film touched on a plethora of coming of age themes, none of them were wholly original or ground-breaking. Overall, Eighth Grade comes across as a movie catered to film critics instead of a relatable coming of age film for all ages to enjoy.
nora-36951
I just finished watching "Eighth Grade" and any parent with a teenager growing up right now needs to see this movie. It was intense and funny and the dad's speech to his sad daughter was unbelievable and I cried because he captured everything I have said or want to say to my teen son as he goes through this hard time in life. Plus, even though its been only a "few" years since I went through adolescence, boy does this movie bring it back! Go see this movie, it was amazing!
Charles Camp
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
artmed
Although it may "relate" to being a 13 yo (pick any time in the past thousand years), this is a totally dated yawn. Its a tough period of life, no doubt, but that in itself cannot recommend this film. (My three is high.) All I can attribute to the raves is the reviewers' own hella year.
The clueless dad is interesting only in his omissions: single moms, teenagers' privacy, *any discipline whatsoever, and why he left his daughter's teeth so twisted into high school. Fail.
Dads win custody so rarely IRL, in fact, that the omission of any Why is radically unrealistic.
Craft loses to lack of content and time-limitedness by trying to be *quite so hip. This film is outdated by December.
WHEN will phones be banned in schools? JEEEZus
