Eighth Grade movie review – Movie Review Mom

Movie Title: Eighth Grade NOW ON DVD and Streaming You can purchase a copy of Eighth Grade here!

Grade: A-

Rating: R, 94 minutes

In a Nutshell: It’s pretty much lit. Yeah, for sure. Cuz, like, you know or whatever. OK, so yeah.

Tips for parents:

A boy masturbates in a classroom filled with students. You see hand motions. So gross. I’d like to believe that our sweet, little eighth graders aren’t exposed to disgusting things like that at school, but sadly, it’s a different world today. That makes me so sad and even angry. Our children have to grow up so fast nowadays. I know it’s just a movie, but it’s fairly eye-opening for parents to see what kinds of people and ideas our kids are exposed to in school.
Teach your kids NO CELL PHONES AT THE DINNER TABLE!
A boy flips the bird.
The students have a dangerous intruder drill. That’s so scary. We used to have earthquake drills when I grew up in California. It never occurred to us that an evil person could sneak into our school and kill us.
Some profanity and F-bombs. I hate it when kids swear.
A conversation about BJ’s. She looks up videos about how to give them and you see a plastic…thing. She then practices on a banana.
There is something crazy about middle school. My 4 sons were fine in elementary school and high school, but they all struggled in various ways during those awkward middle school years. Parents, show love and patience while your child tries to emerge from the cocoon and into young adulthood.

Uplifting theme:

Be yourself.
“Confidence is a choice.” – Kayla
“You can’t be brave unless you’re scared.” – Kayla
“You never know what’s going to happen next and that’s what makes things exciting, and scary, and fun.” – Kayla
“Just ‘cuz things are happening to you now doesn’t mean they’re always going to happen and things will change.” – Kayla
Connection. We all want it and look for it in different places and in different ways.
Social commentary on the YouTube generation

Things I liked:

Elsie Fisher is absolutely fantastic, a real star in the making. I never felt like she was acting. It seemed like we were really watching her awkward, embarrassing, and messy teen life. Fun fact: Elsie voiced the role of Agnes in Despicable Me in 2010 when she was only 5 years old! Another Fun Fact: She graduated eighth grade one week after filming this movie.
The writing is very realistic and honest.
It’s hilarious when the adults try to act cool so the kids will like them.
I liked her alarm clock ring tone: “Wake up to a new day!”
I saw a Regal theater movie ticket in her time capsule. Yay! That’s where I go every Friday to see the newest movies when they come out.
I loved all the little details and nuances of new teenage life.
She actually offers really good advice to other teens in her videos. The charming part is where she tries so hard to live her own advice.
I love the list that she wrote: “Things that I want” and “How to Get there.” More adults should follow her example and take action on their dreams.
I really like that she prayed and the movie showed it as a sweet moment.
Poor dad. Josh Hamilton gives us a sweet father who was simply trying the best he could.
Soooo awkward.

Things I didn’t like:

Kayla is so disrespectful to her father. What a brat.
Douchebag boys who only want one thing.
You never learn why she always says “Gucci” at the end of her videos.
Rumor has it that Apple was going to donate laptops for everyone in the movie to use, but they didn’t like the scene where Kayla throws her iPhone and it breaks, so Apple decided not to donate any freebies.

Funny lines:

“No one uses Facebook anymore.” – Kennedy (Director Bo Burnham was going to have all the teens in the movie chat on Facebook during scenes, but Elsie Fisher told him that no one uses Facebook anymore, so he added that line to the movie and had the characters use Instagram and Snapchat instead. ha ha)