Eighth Grade (2018) review

Dir. Bo Burnham

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

I thought it’d be fun — and a pleasant change of pace — if I went about my review of Bo Burnham’s critically acclaimed debut Eighth Grade a little differently. The film is essentially a collection of poignant vignettes that painfully illustrate the common quirks and insecurities teenagers experience (and the kind Hollywood is too frequently tone deaf to portray). I decided to go about my review in a fashion similar to the film itself: below are a collection of observations I made during the film as well as some movements I found exquisite in one way or another. I know I’m forgetting some. That’s what second and third viewings are for.

– The film revolves around Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), an eighth grader who lives with her single father (Josh Hamilton). She has a difficult time navigating middle school, only succeeding at being voted “Most Quiet” a week prior to graduation. She makes YouTube vlogs about broad topics such as “being confident” and “putting yourself out there,” regardless of how nebulous some of her claims might be. Kayla is not too different from other young people; she has a wealth of technology at her fingertips and she’s trying to find the best ways to use it for herself and as a coping method for a less-than-perfect social life. I started making YouTube videos with a friend when were in middle school in the late 2000s. I can relate.

– Kayla doesn’t have many friends. Her father tries to serve as the voice of reason, but he’s competing with his daughter’s insatiable technology habits and his unintentional-yet-perpetual ability to embarrass his daughter no matter what he does. There is a charming, eccentric boy named Gabe (Jake Ryan), the cousin of Kennedy (Catherine Oliviere), a popular girl at Kayla’s school. He has quite the extensive collection of McDonald’s chicken nugget sauces and can do a pretty impressive handstand in his cousin’s pool.

– The ubiquity of social media in Eighth Grade is captured terrifically. Closeups of phone-screens in dark rooms blind as they reveal messages and Vines through cracked screens. The inescapable presence of invaluable but sometimes dangerous social networks that expose people’s personal manifestos and often lead to one comparing their life with someone else’s shows that this is a different generation of kids with a completely unprecedented access to information and their peers. But even then, Eighth Grade is no cautionary tale that informs viewers that the internet does indeed exist and you can find blowjob tutorials on YouTube. It manages to capture the time-tested insecurities of tweens, which is a testament to its universality.

– Bo Burnham, who is also responsible for the script, achieves a doubly difficult feat here and that’s making Eighth Grade authentic on almost every front. This is the word that is unfortunately absent from a lot of films aimed to capture the essence of this target demographic (Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise just to name a few) that brutally fail. Through staging, clumsy interpersonal communication, and a great emphasis on the socially formless nature of middle school kids, Burnham’s film is so awkward because it’s so effective in reminding you why the very thought of grades six through eight make you wince. Those developmental, cringe-inducing times were because you lacked social graces and communication skills you hopefully possess today.

– The dinner table scene in the first act between Kayla and her father is a great one. On top of being a compelling showcase of stage business, since the film takes on the look and feel of a play in that moment, Fisher and Hamilton work off of one another extremely well. Their uneven conversational rhythms will empathize with anyone who has ever tried to converse with someone so invested in their phone/music they cannot be burdened to listen. It’s another authentic detail that makes this film such a treat.

– Much will be made about the already discussed “car scene,” which I fear so many young women have experienced in their lives. It will also stand as a timely marker given the current climate regarding sexual harassment and consent.

– Eighth Grade is a fascinating film with a lot going for it. It’s not as refined nor as substantive, I feel, as last year’s Lady Bird, but the empathy it will give multiple generations of viewers is not something that should be analyzed lightly. This is an immensely challenging world to capture on film, and the fact that a 27-year-old Burnham does such a splendid job is an optimistic sign he’ll be blessing the film world quite a bit more going forward. Gucci.

– Lastly, glory to the kid who shouts “LeBron James” at random.

Starring: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Catherine Oliviere, and Jake Ryan. Directed by: Bo Burnham.