2018 / 93m - USA
Drama
1.5*/5.0*
Eighth Grade poster

Watches

January 31, 2021

1.5*/5.0*

A pretty drab and exaggerated coming of age film. It's recognizable in the same way a horoscope is: by sticking to vague and broad sentiments that apply to pretty much every teenager. The result is your average whiny, US indie that does little more than piling on scenes of awkwardness. And it's not even great at that.

Kayla is a young girl who has no trouble making inspiring YouTube videos, but in school she's much quieter and has a hard time fitting in. She tries to follow her own advice, feigning confidence and venturing outside her comfort zone, but she soon finds out that's easier said than done.

Fisher does well, but Burnham's direction is rather plain and the constant repetition gets old really fast. Burnham cycles through all the usual topics (sex, social media, popularity contests, crushes, ...) but doesn't have much interesting to say about them. I get, teens have insecurities, stressing that for 90+ minutes doesn't make it a good film.