Movie Review: Eighth Grade

Eighth Grade (2018) 

Directed by Bo Burnham

Written by Bo Burnham

Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson

Release Date July 13th, 2018

Published August 15th, 2018

Eighth Grade is a movie of this moment; vital and real. Eighth Grade appears uniquely in tune to the teenage mind in a way that we’ve rarely seen in a feature film. Not since perhaps Catherine Hardwicke’s breakthrough 2003 feature, Thirteen, have I seen a movie that feels so uniquely on the wavelength of the modern teenager. Sweet, sensitive, smart and funny, Eighth Grade is one of the best movies of 2018 thus far.

Elsie Fisher stars in Eighth Grade as Kayla, a shy young woman at the end of her middle school years. Is Kayla really shy? Yes and no, she does have her own YouTube channel which is indicative of a desire to communicate with people. However, at school, Kayla has no friends and is given the award as the ‘Most Quiet’ girl at school. Kayla is awkward and angst-ridden around the other kids and it is a constant struggle between that angst and her desire to connect.

That struggle tends to manifest itself quite negatively in Kayla’s relationship with her single dad, Mark (Josh Hamilton), a doofy, dad joke spouting, good sport who is struggling with his own loneliness and insecurity about being a good father. The relationship with father and daughter is quietly the center of the plot of Eighth Grade which is otherwise plotless. Writer-Director Bo Burnham isn’t interested in plot but in atmosphere and especially in observing character.

In Elsie Fisher’s Kayla, Burnham has a character very much worth observing. Fisher’s remarkably innate likability and acute sensitivity make Kayla such a wonderful character. Unique and independent, Kayla may struggle with meeting friends but she does not struggle in evoking our heartfelt sympathy and care. I cared about Kayla the first moment she came on screen with her painfully earnest YouTube advice show as a window into her young soul.

Bo Burnham uses the device of Kayla’s ‘show’ to great effect as we learn things about the character in a way that feels fresh and organic and doesn’t resort to voice-over or other well-worn gimmicks of information exchange. Kayla isn’t an over the top personality, her YouTube show comes from a place of comfort where the only judgment she faces are from the likes, dislikes and page views, what few views she gets.

The aching, angsty,  earnestness of the millennial is captured here in a way that feels almost documentary-like. Burnham has a strong incite into this age group as it has been millennials who’ve helped to raise his profile and made his Netflix special a must see. He’s not pandering to them, he’s going out of his way to be understanding of them and careful in how he portrays them. While Burnham does resort to the kids always on their phone gag, the payoff that comes late when Kayla confronts a pair of phone-toting popular is worth the well-worn trope.

Elsie Fisher is a remarkable find, a young actress of the most natural instincts. Burnham has given her a wonderful character and range to play but Fisher is the one who makes Kayla sing. It’s a performance of layer and nuance and the empathy Fisher evokes for Kayla is the bond that drives the movie. We feel for her, worry for her, laugh with her and urge her forward as she pokes her head out into the world beyond her YouTube channel,

Equally excellent is veteran actor Josh Hamilton as Kayla’s lovingly befuddled father. Though he is the constant focus of his daughter’s unearned ire, we know he’s just as much of a lost soul as she is and loved how the movie never makes it easy for father and daughter to connect. Hamilton’s awkwardness reflects Fisher’s and bonds the two as parent and child. A scene between the two late in the film may be one of the best and most moving scenes in any movie in 2018 and much of the credit for the scene belongs to Hamilton.

Bo Burnham has made a lovely, insightful, warm, and funny movie that feels fresh and like nothing else in theaters today. It’s the first truly millennial movie, the first film to take on this generation and understand them and their unique sensibilities. He captures the earnest qualities that seem to be a very large part of the millennial experience and he does it all with great humor and without pandering. Eighth Grade is one exceptional film.