The Review: Eighth Grade

Eighth Grade 7/10

Cam had watched this a little bit ago and now that it is on Amazon I decided to watch Eighth Grade. I is hard to even write that word properly. This movie is about a girl named Kayla Day played by Elsie Fisher. It is the end of junior high for her and she is trying to prepare herself for high school by pretending to be someone she is not. She makes videos and posts them giving out self help advice that she doesn't follow, pretending to be far more confident than she actually is. Her father Mark played by Josh Hamilton does not know how to handle having a kid at this day and age. This is just what I get from watching. She gets invited to a party of a girl who obviously does not like her and does not have a good time. She has a crush on a boy that is a future felon. She gets a tour of her high school she will be attending and everyone looks like giants which is true.

I related to her winning the “Most Quiet” award in school because I won the same thing. I actually won “Most Quiet” and “Class Clown” (you figure it out) and fought to have my name removed. While watching this I cringed. A lot. I cringed when she tried to talk to the boy she liked. When she tried to talk to the more outgoing girls. When her dad tried to talk to her. Especially during the car ride with the high school boy. There are points where she overcomes her shyness and does things to break out, small victories for herself which I liked. I could not imagine raising a kid right now. I just couldn't. There is a conversation had regarding SnapChat and a high schooler saying how kids like Kayla got it in elementary and wondered if they were sending dick pics. The shit is so different every ten years or so. A 29 year old grew up so different than me and a 19 year old before them and a 9 year old now. Jesus. I would suggest parents watch this and kids in school. Which is funny considering this got a fucking R rating. How?! Bo Burnham directed this and it was his debut and he did well. The movie had a definite look and feel to it which was nice. Good acting, cool music. Really liked the music. The eighth grade of 2019 is way different than 1992. I'm sure I would be able to relate to this more if I were young, a girl, or a parent.

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