Eighth Grade-2018
Director Bo Burnham
Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton
Scott’s Review #935
Reviewed August 27, 2018
Grade: A-
Occasionally, a film rich with authenticity and pure honesty comes along, and Eighth Grade (2018) is one of those films.
Bursting with a lead character who brings a genuine sincerity to a complex role, director Bo Burnham gets the best out of emerging talent, Elsie Fisher, in an autobiographical story about teenage angst and awkwardness that nearly everyone can recollect from those hated middle school years.
The coming-of-age story follows the life and struggles of an eighth-grader, Kayla Day (Fisher), during her last week of classes before graduating from junior high school.
She struggles with severe social anxiety but produces secret YouTube videos in which she provides life advice to both herself and her audience. She has a clingy relationship with her sometimes overbearing father, Mark (Josh Hamilton), who adores her but is careful to provide Kayla with freedom and balance, her mother apparently out of the picture.
Eighth Grade feels fresh and rich with good, old-fashioned, non-cliched scenes as audiences fall in love with Kayla and her trials and tribulations.
The stereotypes would abound in a lesser film attempting to appeal to the masses, but this film is going for intelligent writing.
The scenes range from touching to comical to frightening. A tender father and daughter talking over a campfire provides layers of character development for both Kayla and Mark as an understanding is realized.
As Kayla ogles over her classmate Aiden, voted student with the nicest eyes, to Kayla’s demoralizing win for quietest student, she bravely attempts to get to know the boy.
Realizing that to win his heart, she must provide dirty pictures of herself or perform lewd acts, she hilariously watches oral sex tutorials and nearly practices on a banana in a scene rivaling any from the crude American Pie (1998).
To expand on this, the audience will experience concern for Kayla as she winds up in the backseat of a strange boy’s car, encouraged to take off her top, going rapidly from comedy to alarm.
Enough cannot be said for Fisher’s casting as Kayla. Reportedly seen on a real-life YouTube channel, Burnham plucked the fledgling young actress from the ranks of the unknown.
The bright young star will surely be the next big thing with her innocent yet brazen teenage looks- she is only sixteen! With pimples and a pretty face, she admires yet despises popular kids and resorts to telling one-off stories.
Fisher gives Kayla sass and poise mixed with her anti-socialism.
Befriended by a pretty and popular high school student assigned to be her buddy, Kayla awakens with gusto, finally seeing there may be life after middle school and maybe, just maybe, high school will not be as torturous as earlier years.
A cute add-on is an adorable relationship that develops between Kayla and just as awkward Gabe in the film’s final act. They dine over chicken nuggets and bond over a nerdy television show they love.
Hamilton deserves accolades in the more difficult role of the father of a thirteen-year-old. Smart is how the film shares his perspective on current events. He can be daring, as when he enters Kayla’s room to nearly catch her practicing her kissing technique, or creepy, as when he follows Kayla to the mall to see her new friends.
However, his deep affection and admiration for her provide a deep warmth seldom seen in teenage films.
Burnham is careful not to stifle the film with fluff or redundancy but rather makes it timely and relevant. The incorporation of the internet, text messaging, and the never-ending use of smartphones makes any older viewer realize that over ninety percent of thirteen-year-olds use these devices, and social media is the new normal.
The sobering realization is that painful teenage experiences do not end when the three o’clock school bell signals the end of the day.
When the students endure a drill to practice measures to survive a school shooting attack, the reality hits home that this is now also a part of a teenager’s everyday life. American life for the young has changed immensely since most of us were of this age, and Burnham does a bang-up job of reinforcing this importance.
Whether the viewer is elderly or middle-aged, has fond memories of middle school, or cringes at the thought, yearbooks safely packed up in boxes to bury the memories, every viewer can take something away from Eighth Grade (2018).
Excellent casting and an infusion of several cross-genres make this film a fresh and memorable independent comedy/drama deserving of a watch.
Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 1 win- Best Feature, Best Female Lead- Elsie Fisher, Best Supporting Male- Josh Hamilton, Best First Screenplay (won)
