Eighth Grade

Thanks to Burnham’s exuberant, alert writing and Fisher’s masterful command of vulnerability, anxiety, resilience and steadfast self-belief, Kayla emerges as an icon of her own — just by being herself.

Impressive as Burnham’s achievement is, Eighth Grade could never hit the heights it does without the right actress in the demanding lead role.

If there’s a knock on Eighth Grade, it’s that it feels too true-to-life to be entirely comfortable.

Throughout, we're invited to chuckle at the ironies of Kayla's hobbies and activities, but underlying such scenes is a strain of eeriness, as if the film were offering up a post-human spin on Pretty in Pink.

While Kayla Day is very much a teenager of her precise time and place, her gruelling anxiety – and Fisher’s wonderful yearning in the role – make her universally relatable anyway.

In its eagerness to please, Eighth Grade does go for some sunnier touches that feel good in the moment but don’t necessarily ring true upon closer inspection.

Burnham’s eye for detail and nuance is keen, and several scenes...have a tightly scripted tension, but he smothers the story in sentiment, stereotypes, and good intentions. Despite Fisher’s calm and vivid performance, Kayla remains merely a collection of traits.

Honestly heartbreaking and real. Eighth Grade is all at once harrowing, hilarious, grim, hopeful, lonely, joyous, a cutting portrait of the toxic relationship between technology and today's youth, and a beautiful character piece taking place in the worst time period of adolescence. While funny in that trademark eccentric, Bo Burnham style, so many scenes are very uncomfortable and are quite scary in fact! The emotional tone set by the shots and performances in this film are incredibly strong. As for Elsie Fisher, this is a breakout performance and she truly carries the movie on her shoulders. The critique of youth and technology is very well made, with such uncomfortably funny scenes such as kids not taking a school shooting drill seriously, or the fact that they are all isolating themselves in the depths of the internet will hit close to home for a lot of viewers. As much as things change, they stay the same however, as sex and **** are recurring topics in this movie. Sex is portrayed as both awkward, disgusting, and in one beautifully constructed scene in the back of a car, terrifying and predatorial. Bo Burnham has made an excellent first film. Elsie Fisher carries herself and this film with intense vulnerability and grace. I will not be surprised if I see Eighth Grade popping up in the awards season this year

I can't quite tell why I didn't really love the film, I just found it kinda boring... I think it's a more personal thing or something, but I can't say I was invested in it or thought about it as I finished watching it...

Interesante, te refleja bien la situación actual. El problema de la peli es que no tiene una historia centrada en un principio un desarrollo de la idea y un deselance; simplemente las cosas van pasando por que si, el drama es poco.

Each character stays a monochromatic stereotype of their initial concept from the beginning of the movie to the very end. That's why it's so awkward, not because life is actually this awkward, (even jerks and morons change their expressions and social strategies sometimes), but because I'm supposed to see an impression of reality here and don't. It feels like a fan script version of Welcome to the Dollhouse, one of the greatest coming of age movies of all time.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]