Eighth Grade Movie Review

Eighth Grade (2018)

Rent Eighth Grade on Amazon Video
Written by: Bo Burnham
Directed by: Bo Burnham
Starring: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.

Verdict
This delves into the subtle pain of being thirteen. The social fears of finding friends and fitting in are huge. Kayla has a Youtube channel where she wears a confident facade, and that's what all thirteen year olds have, a facade. Kayla just doesn't hide her fears as well as others in public.
How gross kids are to how hard it is for parents, everything feels real, and this is all the more impressive as Youtube comedian Bo Burnham wrote and directed this.
Watch it.

Review
This jumps into it with a Youtube video Kayla is filming. It's awkward, with lots of uhms, but she grows into the speech. I knew what this  was setting up. Kayla's video about being yourself and being confident is just a Youtube persona. It's a front she wants to be.

 

This really gets into what eight grade is like. The kids are gross and often cruel even if they don't intend to be. Kayla is voted most quiet which isn't a good thing. That is everything she doesn't want to be. This also does a great job of empathizing with parents. Kayla lives with her dad. At one dinner, you get her point of view, but you also get the dad's too. She has a lot of anxiety and she lashes out at her dad. He just wants to connect. He's a good dad, but Kayla has completely shut him out because that's what kids do.

 

What I like about this is that she has the answers when she makes Youtube videos. It's sound advice, but that doesn't' translate to real life. I get this movie. I'm that person. I'm an introvert, which doesn't mean i can't talk to people, I'm just not outgoing unless I need to be.
Her Youtube persona is playing the part of someone else. It's a bit of fantasy, wishing people treated her like that.
Burnham wrote and directed this, and as a Youtube comedian, this is impressive. I have to believe he's pulling from his experiences. This goes right into how he made Youtube videos and seems outgoing while he probably isn't. This has to be part biographical.

It taps into the fears of eighth graders while also showing eighth graders as gross and crass. She's at a pool party she didn't want to go to, and you know how it goes. She gives a very thoughtful gift and it isn't received well. This doesn't make it look like all eighth graders feels the same way, but some people have just found a group, Kayla hasn't. She's trying to find a friend, but she can also be that person for someone else.