Review of Eighth Grade (2018) by Davidwashere — 27 Oct 2018

OKAY STORY TIME: I was a senior in high school when Lorde's Royals topped the charts. So much of media aimed towards younger viewers and audiences may come off with the delusions that they get us, but often they come off like a shirt at Walmart with #Relatable printed on the front. So when there was a ton of hollow pop songs trying to say "This is you and therefore this is for everyone," here's this New Zealand girl, around my age range, who came right out of nowhere with a smash hit against the norms about being broke and living in a nowhere town but still they wanna party it up with the rich crowd because who wouldn't, I was like "Yes! Finally! This is me!" And then I listened to the album it came from, Pure Heroine, and I was hooked and sucked in with songs like Tennis Courts and Team and White Teeth Teens and ESPECIALLY Ribs, I just felt like someone who is still young finally gets it! It might seem like a weird way to write this review, but let me just say that watch Eighth Grade just made me say "Yes! Finally! Someone gets it!".

Roger Ebert once wrote about the adaptation of Ghost World (which you should go watch) and said that he wanted to hug that movie. This is exactly how I felt about Eighth Grade. I wanted to hug Kayla and tell her that it's going to be okay and that she is absolutely wonderful...only to realize that as a grown man that's creepy as **** VnV This effect of emotion and caring largely came from the main brains behind this wonderful film, Bo Burnham (an absolutely hilarious comedian and a very talented man at that) just nails that type of honest emotion. It relies a lot on cringe humor with teachers dabbing and the intense fear of socializing with the cool kids who do not like you, but it all works because not only is it funny, but you also can relate to it. There's no artifice with overly stereotypical characters, it feels like real people having real discussions and the real feeling of happiness and white knuckle feeling of "Oh God I just embarrassed myself in front of everyone!" Seriously with all the uses of "likes" and "ums" and the use of social media in a natural way, the script is absolutely amazing! It makes the highs all the more high, and the lows all the lower. Like it has been a while for a film to make me feel that sinking feeling in my stomach like the car scene. There's an immediate comparison to be made for the films John Hughes made in the 80s like the Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, which is a totally legit comparison, but the movie it most reminded me of is last year's Lady Bird, where I never felt like I was watching actors but real people in this real scenarios saying totally real things!

The acting is also amazing too. Everyone in this movie is great. Literally no bad performance! Elise Fisher (mostly known for doing the voice of one of the girls in the first two Despicable Me films, so this is a real upgrade) carries this film! She is honestly terrific with this role and she makes you care for this girl, again it doesn't feel like an act but a real girl in middle school. Josh Hamilton is also great too being the awkward dad and him and Elise have terrific and believable chemistry. And that's the key word here, believable. I didn't feel like anyone was faking or over-dramatizing their roles! I didn't see actors, I saw people!

The only complaint is that while Bo is a great writer, as a director it does feel a little rough. The movie goes for a naturalist approach, not exactly being polished but filming in a way where it feels more like voyeuristic approach (voyeurism isn't the right term but go with me), where you feel like you are there with the characters and not done like it would be in a professional film with tripods and steady cams and whatnot. Which can certainly work for the realness of the film, but there were points where it can feel a bit stagnant and lacking in variety. But I feel that what we've got from Bo for his first outing is still great and there were some shots here that felt like he knows what to do in terms of the film language, so hopefully over time he will learn more from how to make a film.