Bo Burnham’s directorial debut is a triumphant day-in-the-life of an eighth grade girl. The ghost of John Hughes would’ve been impressed because Bo went ever further on the authenticity with today’s teens without mocking, pandering or tsk tsk’ing the heroine.
The movie follows Kayla during her final days of eighth grade (middle school too) and her life is “rough.” Her dad is embarrassing as he pesters her with questions while she’s trying to use her iPhone over dinner. Kayla isn’t popular neither. Much to her surprise, when the “Most…” awards are declared at an assembly, she “wins” The Most Quiet Girl of her class. Stunned, she accepts. It’s also a surprise to us the audience since she posts tips/advice on her own YouTube channel yet she has few, if any, followers.
I don’t want to spoil much more of the plot, what I want to praise is the realism, given how today’s teens have unfettered access to things that could ruin their lives later. Kayla isn’t pretty like the queen bee of her class, Kennedy (someone you can tell is an asshole), she has some acne (to Hollywood, this is a sin unless it has a comedic point) and she experiences social anxiety at a pool party, mostly over body issues. Kayla’s life doesn’t exactly suck, it just isn’t Hollywood perfect. The bright spots are her father who loves her dearly and being a single parent, he was filled with fear over raising her but he praises her on how she turned out; Kayla is a good person and he hears this from other adults. Another moment is when she gets to shadow a high school student, something the middle school does to prepare them. Kayla is paired up with Olivia who is an utter delight. Olivia takes Kayla under her wing and they become fast friends, including an invitation to hang out at the local mall. (Do teenagers still do this given how malls are hurting now?)
You have to see how it ends. Again, I want to emphasize the accuracy on how teenagers behave, speak and utilize today’s technology.
Is it funny? Yes, not in a laugh-out-loud way though, it’s more subtle. Despite the R-rating, I would recommend parents taking their high-school/middle school kids to see it. The rating it received I feel was unfair. There isn’t any sex or nudity, so it should be PG-13. Why the MPAA (or whatever) gave it the R was probably their discomfort on how frankly the teenagers speak.
Eighth Grade is tied for my favorite movie for 2018, the other I will get to soon.
Alamo Extras: Fish school cartoon; K-Pop video in which the singer says “gucci” a lot, this ties into Kayla’s YouTube antics; Clearsail commercial from the Eighties (been there); Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” video; Trailer for Welcome to the Dollhouse; Manchester Orchestra video “Montage,”; Terrible ventriloquist singing about puberty; Bo Burnham stuff from YouTube; A montage of the Alamo staffers’ eighth grade photos; Kid band playing Weezer’s “Come Undone (Sweater Song)”; The staff’s favorite “Worst Teenage Experience” movies: Three O’Clock High, Edge of Seventeen, Saved! and Perks of Being a Wallflower.