I am a grandmother and my kids did not have the social media issues that kids have not. I really think this was a fair presentation of what life is like for so many kids not. Kayla is not one of the popular girls - she does a video on things that interest her and has a few followers. She is trying to boost her self esteem and that is so true to life. The whole film is from Kayla's viewpoint, her reactions to friends and non-friends is so real. The pay attention to me but don't pay attention to me is so well shown. The relationship between father and daughter is beautiful and real. Elsie Fisher is so perfect for this role. Bo Burnham succeeds in his first writing and directing - can't wait to see what else he does. Thank you for making this such an honest film.

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

'Eighth Grade' is a movie you'll be talking about for a long time. Bo Burnham, one of the O.G.'s of teen YouTube stardom, has given us an agonizingly rich and authentic look at what life is like for Kayla (Elsie Fisher), a shy 13-year-old girl in today's social media obsessed world. Burnham, directing his first feature, doesn't spare any detail and doesn't alter any truth. This film is exceedingly honest. It doesn't depict Kayla's experiences the way we might think they should be for an eighth grader or the way we might want them to be-they're simply presented as they are. Pool parties are a source of unbearable discomfort. First sexual encounters are not always pleasant. Kids with exploding hormones and little impulse control randomly shout unfunny phrases at assemblies in the hopes of earning a laugh.The storytelling has the feel of a nature documentary. We can almost hear the narrator describing Kayla's attempts to navigate her fascinating and frightening terrain. Playing the vulnerable character who's far from the top of the food chain, she's just trying to survive. Kayla, like so many kids her age, is a shy girl pretending to be confident. She posts advice videos to YouTube on how to be yourself, something with which she still very much struggles. As she records one video, she slowly rolls her chair farther away from the camera, indicating a declining level of self-assurance. This mirrors her real-world peer interactions, in which she stammers and laughs halfway through sentences as she begins to doubt herself and shrink with embarrassment, not that the self-absorbed "listener" bothers to notice.All the kids stare at their phones constantly. These modern mean girls barely bother to muster up the energy put others down with a passive-aggressive remark because that would involve speaking to another person. Instead, they inflict harm by neglecting to acknowledge an uncool kid's mere existence. As cruel as that sounds, these popular kids aren't presented as villains. This is simply their way of handling their own insecurities. There are no villains in eighth grade-they're all just kids trying to figure out their lives and trying to figure out themselves.And the adults don't know how to handle any of this. Kayla's dad wants to connect with her, but is met with constant rejection. He smartly gives her space and only requests her attention to remind her how much he loves her. In one scene, Kayla asks if she makes him sad, and he fervently reassures her that she makes him profoundly happy. Like Kayla, he can't always find the right words, but he successfully expresses the feeling. That scene is a microcosm of the entire film. Its dialogue isn't readily quotable or particularly memorable, and that's okay. What is actually said isn't as important as the meaning behind it. Parents can keep this in mind when they have conversations with their own kids, possibly directly after watching this film. Many kids and parents will likely watch it together since it carries an "R" rating (it's ironic that a film that accurately reflects the lives of eighth graders is deemed too adult for them to watch on their own). And parents should watch this with their kids, so they can both understand each other a little bit better. They'll both be better for doing so.