Eighth Grade

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Wow will this age terribly. With the forefront jokes being current slang and gestures, it just doesn't seem to have much of a shelf life. The jokes themselves were super tame and really cheap (which didn't seem to phase anyone in my theatre because everyone else seemed to be having a blast). The characters for the most part are cardboard, and glaringly obvious that this is a portrayal of what a comedian thinks being an eighth grade girl is like. This character doesn't seem to have much wrong with her life, meaning that the movie has no conflict, so the film as a whole seemed to drag. The plot line was incredibly eventless and dull. My eighth grade experience was so memorable because so much happened to me without any effort on my part. There was no bullying or psychological torment in this, a staple of being a modern eighth grader, in addition to little to no foul language on the kids' part. Why wasn't there constant swearing by the students? Thats all anyone does in eighth grade, and the film is rated R, so why was it played so safe? There is no excuse for this film to not be taken to the extreme. The film in its entirety just didn't feel relatable enough. I found Boyhood to be much more effective in this aspect since that's a coming-of-age drama that really didn't hold back.

This movie was beyond horrible. I wanted a comedy movie and didn't laugh once. I cringed so much! The pace of the movie didn't make much sense (about her and Aiden and all). No character development at all and this was basically the point of the movie ???? Don't waste your time, you'll hate yourself afterwards. I don't know, I honestly couldn't relate at all, this coming from a girl who was kinda quiet herself.

Who can relate to a young girls' drama, when there is no drama or arc. There was a time when growing up had a lot more to tell than, a complex emotional journey with a lot to tell. The shallow sensitivity and the big "theme" that everyone wants to be special and different, is pictured a lot. The only thing that made the protagonist special is that she had a lot of problems without actually having a problem and maybe a broken iphone. The reason I am writing this review is that I keep wondering, how this movie can be considered as a Masterpiece when the culture of this so-called new generation has no philosophic background and just float behind a screen on a 24-7 basis. As the years pass by, the American Cinema has less and less to offer, makes me wonder if humans over there have become empty shells.

I understand, that there's a lot of close minded people of the older generation here that don't find this movie to be realistic cause it's different to when they were in Eighth Grade, but the world has changed. All you need to do is go online and find some random kid with 10 subscribers making YouTube videos to understand where the cringe of 'gucci' etc. comes from. I know people somewhat akin to the main character, and honestly, her inability to express herself is realistic. The dialogue as well, I walk through the halls of my high school, and just want to cringe to death at the way the younger kids speak, and I think it's great that it is being explored through this film, something a lot of people have and will never understand. Anyway I thought it was a good film, no one's going to read this but who cares, I wrote it in 5 minutes.

Very ordinary film on the boring side. No real narrative. Describes a nerd and yes we all have had some of her eigth grade embarrassing experiences, but the devastation for most of us didn't come close to hers. I just don't get what the good word of mouth was about.

I saw this movie at the SFFILM festival. It had the potential to be a really good moving about the awkward years during our early teens (middle school) but unfortunately it was poorly written and there was little humor in the movie. As a result, it was 90 minutes of watching a teen in uncomfortable, awkward situations without the levity that this type of movie needs. I sat there waiting for it to be over.

One of the most boring movies of 2018 and, definitely, one of the most boring protagonists I've ever seen. Nothing happens in this movie and I really do not understand how it can be considered one of the best of the year. One of the things that annoyed me most is that all the characters are uninteresting and do nothing creative and stay in front of the phone all day. Do not waste your time on this movie. 1/10

'Eighth Grade' is a movie you'll be talking about for a long time. Bo Burnham, one of the O.G.'s of teen YouTube stardom, has given us an agonizingly rich and authentic look at what life is like for Kayla (Elsie Fisher), a shy 13-year-old girl in today's social media obsessed world. Burnham, directing his first feature, doesn't spare any detail and doesn't alter any truth. This film is exceedingly honest. It doesn't depict Kayla's experiences the way we might think they should be for an eighth grader or the way we might want them to be-they're simply presented as they are. Pool parties are a source of unbearable discomfort. First sexual encounters are not always pleasant. Kids with exploding hormones and little impulse control randomly shout unfunny phrases at assemblies in the hopes of earning a laugh. The storytelling has the feel of a nature documentary. We can almost hear the narrator describing Kayla's attempts to navigate her fascinating and frightening terrain. Playing the vulnerable character who's far from the top of the food chain, she's just trying to survive. Kayla, like so many kids her age, is a shy girl pretending to be confident. She posts advice videos to YouTube on how to be yourself, something with which she still very much struggles. As she records one video, she slowly rolls her chair farther away from the camera, indicating a declining level of self-assurance. This mirrors her real-world peer interactions, in which she stammers and laughs halfway through sentences as she begins to doubt herself and shrink with embarrassment, not that the self-absorbed "listener" bothers to notice. All the kids stare at their phones constantly. These modern mean girls barely bother to muster up the energy put others down with a passive-aggressive remark because that would involve speaking to another person. Instead, they inflict harm by neglecting to acknowledge an uncool kid's mere existence. As cruel as that sounds, these popular kids aren't presented as villains. This is simply their way of handling their own insecurities. There are no villains in eighth grade-they're all just kids trying to figure out their lives and trying to figure out themselves. And the adults don't know how to handle any of this. Kayla's dad wants to connect with her, but is met with constant rejection. He smartly gives her space and only requests her attention to remind her how much he loves her. In one scene, Kayla asks if she makes him sad, and he fervently reassures her that she makes him profoundly happy. Like Kayla, he can't always find the right words, but he successfully expresses the feeling. That scene is a microcosm of the entire film. Its dialogue isn't readily quotable or particularly memorable, and that's okay. What is actually said isn't as important as the meaning behind it. Parents can keep this in mind when they have conversations with their own kids, possibly directly after watching this film. Many kids and parents will likely watch it together since it carries an "R" rating (it's ironic that a film that accurately reflects the lives of eighth graders is deemed too adult for them to watch on their own). And parents should watch this with their kids, so they can both understand each other a little bit better. They'll both be better for doing so.

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