Could Bo Burnham, comedian and long-time YouTube internet star, be the next Judd Apatow? With his first feature, Burnham has done his research into the minds and sensibilities of teenagers stuck in that awkward age just after the onset of puberty and before becoming more independent during the heady days of high school. Eighth Grade focuses on his young protagonist, Kayla Day, winningly played by Elsie Fisher, who has been in the acting business since she was five years old. Usually in these coming-of-age stories focusing on school, the protagonist is pitted against a tangible opponent (often a bully) and much of the plot revolves around the conflict between the two. But here Burnham eschews such familiar tropes and hones in on Kayla's internal arc, highlighted by her lack of self-esteem and a journey to assert herself in a world which relies on social media to establish one's social cred. Kayla is raised by a single parent father, Mark, who thinks the world of her but has difficulty communicating with his daughter as Kayla often feels embarrassed by his awkward entreaties. Instead she holes herself up in her room, creating motivational videos, which she posts on the internet but no one listens to. The videos are actually quite prescient and suggest she has a lot more on the ball than what her classmates give her credit for (she's voted "Most quiet" in an awards ceremony at school at the beginning of the film). Indeed it's Burnham's sharp observations about student life that lift this film way above the clichés of the genre. In addition to the offbeat awards ceremony just alluded to, there are a slew of neat, unexpected activities at the school we're introduced to. For example the students open up "time capsules" which they made on their first day at middle school. Now they watch their younger selves speaking to their older counterparts, wishing them good luck on their impending graduation and entrance into high school (at film's end, Kayla creates a new "time capsule," wishing her good luck on her next foray into college). More unusual and compelling stuff: students undergoing a drill, where a teacher is dressed up as a school mass killer and instructed how to react if such a deadly situation arises (a sorry commentary on the state of affairs in this country at the present time!). Later, the eighth graders are paired up with high school students for a day at the local high school where they gain some valuable "experience" in what to expect when they begin attending in the fall. Eighth grade is not plot heavy and depends on a series of vignettes that chart the protagonist's journey. Kayla is invited to the birthday pool party of a girl whom has snubbed her in school, but attends at the behest of the rival's mother. There she confronts Aiden, a boy she has a crush on, offering to send him nude pictures of herself. The boy counters by asking her if she knows how to give oral sex. This then results in Kayla's desire to educate herself on the subject by watching explicit online videos as well as practicing with a banana (practice which fails to come to fruition, after she's interrupted by her father). The second act dark moment arrives after Kayla hooks up with Olivia, the high school student she was paired up with at school. Burnham smartly contrasts the older teenagers' more sophisticated banter with some of the more monosyllabic utterances of the younger crowd Kayla has been interacting with earlier. In perhaps the most harrowing scene in the film (which hardly should be called harrowing), Kayla gets a ride home with Olivia's friend Riley, one of the older high school students, who parks his car, gets in the back seat with Olivia and begins playing a game of "truth or dare." He gets as far as taking his shirt off when Kayla makes it clear that she wants him to stop and drive her home. Fortunately there are no real tragic moments in the film but it's a learning moment for Kayla, who finally pours out her heart to her father, after the traumatic event. If there is one flaw to this film, Burnham has some trouble wrapping things up. There's the overly sentimental scene involving the embrace between father and daughter as well as Kayla rather abruptly effecting her comeuppance of Kennedy, whom she bluntly tells off in the school hallway, right before film's end (maybe not the best way to demonstrate how she's found her confidence). It's Burnham's observational skills about today's environment permeated by social media, as well as the psychology of the teenage mind, that prove he is a talent to be reckoned with. In addition, with his adroit use of social media and overall clever cinematography (not to mention the great use of music to enhance the drama), Burnham has already positioned himself as a major force in the cinematic world today.

I just finished watching "Eighth Grade" and any parent with a teenager growing up right now needs to see this movie. It was intense and funny and the dad's speech to his sad daughter was unbelievable and I cried because he captured everything I have said or want to say to my teen son as he goes through this hard time in life. Plus, even though its been only a "few" years since I went through adolescence, boy does this movie bring it back! Go see this movie, it was amazing!

Eighth Grade certainly stands out as one of the more authentic portrayals of what the millennial middle school experience must be like. It primarily examines the profound impact social media has had on the preteen and adolescent experience and does a frequently wonderful job of weaving social media into the fabric of the film. Early on comes an excellent montage of our socially inhibited protagonist sitting on her bed, earbuds secured, face illuminated by her phone, colorful and bright social media app images superimposed over her vacant, even troubled expression, likes and comments flowing through her fingertips, pop music blaring. It's a great example of a director harnessing the film medium to make a statement which would've otherwise needed a mass of words to properly articulate.The film is at it's best when it's in this headspace, capturing the experience of today's middle schooler with both insight and humor. Take perhaps its best sequence in which Kayla apprehensively attends a scornful classmate's birthday party filled with kids she doesn't know. Here the film fires on all cylinders and offers a barrage of effective choices and moments: use of voiceover from Kayla's YouTube channel to add weight to the harsh reality of her loneliness, cringy and effective humor in the awkward interactions between her and her crush, the way in which Kayla is constantly framed as separate from the mass of kids enjoying themselves, and that absolutely painful moment of silence when her classmate opens up Kayla's birthday gift which has to be one of the most potently uncomfortable scenes I've watched this year. As a whole this sequence not only entertains, it builds empathy and is executed with a realism that forces you to stew in Kayla's discomfort. Perhaps it'll even bubble up emotions from a similar experience you may have had growing up.But there are times when the film veers somewhat off course. It may simply be a matter of taste, but some of the humor just didn't land with me. So much of the film's strength is in its authenticity and the comedy at times becomes overblown in a way that detracts from the realism. The banana scene, for instance, or the somewhat forced conversation between Kayla and her crush under the desk during the shooting drill - these are moments that feel more like SNL sketches than genuine middle school experiences. Too often the movie overreaches for laughs when restraint may have served it better. It also struggles to fully satisfy narratively with later would-be "climatic" moments which feel somewhat unearned and abrupt. A great example of this is the scene where Kayla confronts her condescending classmates towards the conclusion which comes out-of-left-field and feels like it was shoved into the film for the sake of providing some sort of unnecessary "closure."In the grand scheme, these shortcomings aren't enough to overshadow the film's many successes. It stands out as a notable and insightful film on the subject and is certainly worth the watch even it doesn't stick every landing.Strong 3.5/5

As a fan of Bo Burnham since he was posting rap songs on YouTube, I am proud to say he made a pretty solid directorial debut with Eighth Grade. Firstly, as anticipated, this movie is hilarious as hell, and the comedy written in is quite smart as well. And even though the comedy is sharp and witty and IMDb classifies this film as a comedy, I don't think Bo's intentions were to make the audience guffaw. To me, it felt more like a drama with comedic elements thrown in, and I really like that decision. It gave the appearance that he had a message to get across to any struggling eighth grader out there, or even any sort of adult because the theme is quite universal (and kind of trite in the way he portrayed it, but I'll discuss that later), that hope always lays on the horizon, and I'm glad that he was passionate enough about this message that he didn't want to smother it in comedy, even though he could have done so quite easily. While I'm praising the writing, I ought to applaud Bo on the fact that he has a really good eye for watching and scribing how people interact, and teens of this age are so complex to write, especially of this age, it's honestly a miracle he was able to portray them this accurately and consistently for the entire movie. Like I worked at a Boy Scout summer camp for the entirety of this summer and by being around kids this age for like two months, I can say he really hit the nail on the head with how they act - the memes, the social media, the cliques, all of it. I wouldn't be surprised if this movie is seen as a sort of time capsule of this era for future generations, similar to what Dazed and Confused is today. But regardless of all the trends that will inevitably pass, the relatability of blossoming human emotions at this age, and coping with who you want to be in life is explored beautifully and will definitely stand the test of time. I definitely felt for Elsie Fisher, who plays Kayla Day, the eponymous eighth grader of the film, and does an amazing job for such a young actress, as she stood in the bathroom working up the courage to enter a party of strangers who thought she was weird. Or as she called to have her dad pick her up early. Or as she explored crushes, and her boundaries in an incredibly frightening scene towards the end of the movie. (I'd like to address this scene as I felt it was incredibly well done and made me feel super anxious as I'm sure Kayla felt in the moment. But the downside is that its inclusion confused me a little bit? I'm sure it happens in life, but if you take the scene completely out of the movie, it doesn't affect anything, which it definitely would have in real life. This is the one major pit fall in the writing.) Generally just the sense of trying to fit in. And while the film was enjoyable while it explored this theme, it did it in a very lowest common denominator way which was quite disappointing. I found that even though this movie was only an hour and a half long, it started really dragging at some point because there were so many scenes I had seen a million times and the end was so predictable. And compounding on that, the shot composition of the film was quite bland too and that likely contributed as well because the visual department was lacking. Swiss Army Man from 2016 explored many of the same themes of self-discovery in a much more interesting way and it ended up becoming one of my favorites from that year. It's a fine line that needs walked when handling a message that's been used since Shakespeare ("Above all, to thine own self, be true."). And that's a little disappointing coming from Bo Burnham because I know what he's capable of and I feel like he could have done so much more with this movie. But maybe I'm expecting too much out of his debut because it really isn't that bad. I hope he learns a lot from this movie and perfects his craft in the time in between his next movie. Watching him evolve and accomplish so much at such a young age is incredibly inspiring and I can't wait to see what Bo does next!