I saw it last night. I knew going into this film that it had very good reviews, but I was still terrifically impressed by it. The fact that a 25-year-old male YouTube comedian was able to write a movie this sensitive and smart about a teenaged girl boggles my mind a little.
Spoilers later, but…just very impressed.
Is Equipoise still around? Seems like the kind of movie she’d love.
My top film of the year so far!
Came onto my radar a week or two ago. Looking forward to it.
I’m going to bump this now that it’s releasing wide. Wide being a relative term, of course, for an A24 indie movie about a week or so in the life of an Eighth Grade girl.
Disclosure: one of the best friends I’ve ever had is in the movie so I may be biased.
Holy cow, was this a good movie. At times both cringey and hilarious, it might be the best examination of suburban early teen angst ever. It’s very heartfelt and I think the screenplay should be at least in the discussion for ‘Best Original Screenplay’ come awards season.
Bo Burnham did a great job with his first effort. I hope he can keep it up. And keep hiring my friend.
Ha! Well, disclosure too, I guess: my kid is friends with one of the kid actors. But it really is a terrific movie…crazily enough, I found myself identifying with both the 13YO and her dad.
From the previews, it looks almost painful to watch. I told my daughter, who has a seven-year old daughter, that those pre-teen and teenage years are coming and suggested she see the movie. Each generation is different, so I hope this movie would point out what’s different.
I loved this movie. It captures the anxiety-filled, pre-teen years perfectly. The acting, music, writing and, most importantly, the cinematography are outstanding.
Do not sleep on this.
Best movie of the year for me, too. I went with my 8th-grade son and 20-year old niece. I also plan to watch it with my 7th-grade daughter very soon.
Both of my kids are very confident and have many friends, but there was still a whole lot that they identified with. And I, who had the experience of being in middle school but also is currently experiencing being the dad of two middle-schoolers, found it doubly relatable. As we were leaving my niece said, “Well… that hit a little close to home!”
It also opened up a Very Important discussion with my kids about how they can be kind with other kids who are “quiet” or don’t seem to have a lot of friends.
*It’s understandable, but a shame, that the film is rated R. I mean it has bad language and they talk (with ignorant bravado) about blow jobs. I hope it doesn’t dissuade too many parents from taking their young teens to see it. It’s no more R-rated than a day in middle school actually is.
Well said, Skammer.
That’s awesome! Just because a classmate is quiet doesn’t make them weird. Your daughters should make an effort to, at least, reach out to these quiet kids. They’ll never know what they’ll find behind the shyness.
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I hope it doesn’t dissuade too many parents from taking their young teens to see it.
It would be a shame if parents are easily scared off of the R rating.
You’re damn right about that.
Fuck, yeah. Less so than mine. But that was the early 80s in SoCal. We essentially had no supervision.
This one really punched me. I have both a 14-year-old girl just about to start high school - like Kayla - and an 18-year-old girl - like Olivia. Having them on both sides of me during the movie was to hear ongoing commentary with JUST slightly different perspectives. Fun times.
Plus it had the dad who was just trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do. That shit gets confusing for a single parent dad of girls. I’ll tell you that one honestly and without shame.
The dinner scene at the beginning, when Kayla’s dad tried to get her attention, was heart breaking. I’m sure not all children are glued to their phones at the dinner table, but is that common?
Has this happend to you, Jonathan Chance?
I loved it. Saw it with my 18-year-old daughter, who hated it.
I sympathized with Kayla and thought she was sweet and brave, but my daughter, who’s proudly quiet and dorky herself, thought she was embarrassingly desperate for affection and attention, and was going about getting it all wrong.
I laughed out loud for days every time I remembered the banana scene.
That was one of the biggest themes of the movies. The obsession with obtaining affection and attention is in the minds of most teenagers – and most adults, too – in today’s social media age.
It might seem stupid for Kayla to be so obsessed with wanting people to like – even going as far as uploading “advice” videos no one watches – but, deep down, it speaks a lot about her insecurities. She isn’t one of the “pretty girls,” as we see with Kennedy and her friends at the pool party, and she wants to fit in with them because, she thinks, that is what happiness is.
As we get older, we realize that’s hardly the case.
No, I wouldn’t permit it.
Get me, they love their phones. But that’s a firm rule. We talked about that. Kayla was unbelievably rude in that scene.