"Eighth Grade" (2018) Review

“Eighth Grade”: a brilliantly realistic view of middle school adolescence.

Directed by: Bo Burnham

Rated: R

Runtime: 1:34

Review by: Livi Edmonson

Every now and then, there’s an incredibly special film released that is capable of making a person feel every emotion possible. “Eighth Grade” is one of these rare and spectacular films. 

The film follows Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), who is an apprehensive and shy thirteen-year-old, trying to finish her last week of middle school. She learns a lot about herself within this final week and comes to the realization that being unpopular isn’t always the end of the world, especially if she is comfortable in her own skin. 

I think what will ultimately resonate with audiences about this film is its overall element of realism. The majority of the movie’s scenes are painfully awkward and cringe-worthy, but hey, eighth grade in general is cringe-worthy and at least this movie doesn’t try to sugarcoat this particular experience most kids go through. 27-year-old comedian-turned-filmmaker Bo Burnham is both the writer and director of this remarkably original piece of cinematic art that is “Eighth Grade”. You can tell through the story Burnham tells with this movie that he, too, was once one of these misfit, self-conscious teenagers, which is very refreshing. 

Many times, with films and even books, having to do with pre-teen or teenage kids, the filmmakers behind these stories of youth are not, let’s say, “youthful” and it shows terribly through their films. Audience members who actually are the age of what the film is portraying want a film that they can fully relate to, not one that shows how some old director or writer thinks their experience with youth adolescence should have been. 

Not only does Burnham’s age and experience help make this an “A+” film, but also breakthrough actor, Elsie Fischer, and her daring, yet effortless portrayal of Kayla Day. Fischer is now fifteen- years-old in real life, thus making her probably about fourteen, if not thirteen, when she filmed “Eighth Grade”. So, she too, definitely understands what it is like to be a middle schooler, more specifically, a middle school girl of this current generation, which is why it comes as no surprise that she absolutely nails her portrayal of Kayla and brings to life a real person, not a character.

What parents will enjoy about “Eighth Grade” is that it presents a positive role model to its audience. Yes, the film shows Kayla as a teenager who seems to struggle with major social anxiety, but what it also shows is that she is trying to be the best she can be. She is telling herself constantly throughout the course of her everyday life to maintain a positive attitude, even though she is in the midst of the absolute worst phase of her life with really no one but herself to go through it with. This alone makes her a positive role model in a way, which is a type of main character that is never shown on-screen, especially in this particular angsty teen genre where many of the characters shown can be a bad influence on kids. 

This film is rated “R” but parents: please, please ignore the rating. Besides a few bad words and a slightly small sexual situation, there is nothing to worry about when it comes to teens being able to see this movie.  In fact, they need to see this movie. “Eighth Grade” teaches its audience many valuable lessons, which is why I wish I would have had the chance to see this film during my middle school and high school years. It definitely would have made me feel better about the many things I was feeling and dealing with growing up at this age.

Perhaps the biggest lesson “Eighth Grade” teaches us is that we, ourselves, are our biggest critics. Once Kayla learns this lesson in the film, the audience sees, and can only hope, that she has accepted herself as the person she really is without doubting her worth. Another lesson it teaches is that friends fall into place, but in order for our friends to accept and love who we really are, we must accept and love ourselves first. 

Needless to say, “Eighth Grade” is a fantastic, groundbreaking, and wildly entertaining flick. Many films these days fail to capture what it is really like to be a growing teenager, but this film gets it just right. As I said earlier, this movie will capture every single one of your emotions- you will laugh, cry, cringe, but mostly smile. Therefore, do yourself a favor and go see this movie, not only to smile, but also to experience something real in a movie for once.