This review is primarily a tool for collecting my own thoughts, though it would be a nice bonus effect if the text and resulting rating turned out to be helpful for anyone else.
The trailer for Eighth Grade preceded the showing of Won't You Be My Neighbor? I saw last month. I have a nephew who's entering eighth grade this year, and I thought we just had to see this movie together. Bo Burnham's name had also been floating around, mostly in reference to his work as a comedian, and I suppose that name recognition factored into my interest in the film too.
I hope Burnham's comedy is as entertaining as Eighth Grade's trailer—isn't it odd that I would recognize the name without having seen his work?—and the film's ratings soundly beat every other film my nephew was interested in going to see tonight. (I was surprised to see its scores exceed even those of The Incredibles 2, though I can understand the mediocre ratings of Rampage and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.) It seemed like an easy choice, based on audience reactions, and the large turnout at the cinema reinforced that feeling.
However, I'm not entirely satisfied with the experience.
From an artistic standpoint, I appreciated many elements of this film. The way its segments are punctuated by Kayla's videos is a neat narrative device—though sometimes it was frustrating how the audio track of her would play over muted footage of some other event, blocking out any other dialogue.¹ Throughout, the cinematography was well done. Shots were well composed, and it certainly never felt like we were looking at something unimportant (or missing something important). For technical reasons, though, I wish that Kayla hadn't broken her phone's screen so early on. Given how many times it's shown in place of spoken dialogue, it would have been nice to be able to read it more easily.
Content-wise, though, the film is… tame. Uncomfortable at times, but very tame. Quite predictable, too. For a comedy, there weren't actually that many jokes—and a film with this many awkward, uncomfortable scenes definitely needs jokes to lighten the mood. Burnham's use of slightly-dated slang and memes to make adults seem "out of touch" likely won't age very well. Same for the specific references to social media services like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. The demographics on those sites will change faster than any of us think they will, and leave this movie feeling much older than it really is in just a few years.²
Other reviewers here (so far, @jb4times4 and @nmahoney416) have called out the film as being extremely relatable. I suppose it is, in the way that any stand-up comedian's material is "relatable", but I wouldn't call the writing "amazing". There's a certain feeling of superficiality to the whole thing, and not just because it's a comedy. The movie felt almost like an impressionist painting of the Teenage Girl Experience, or even a caricature. As a twenty-something guy myself, I can't claim any more experience at "being a teenage girl" than Bo Burnham can, but I'm definitely interested in reactions from people who once were teenage girls. Preferably from my generation or younger, just because I think the gap in technology between my parents' generation and mine or my nephew's deeply affects the experience of growing up. Hopefully some of my friends have seen (or will see) Eighth Grade and I can ask for their opinions.³
Ultimately, I can't really put my finger on any single reason why Eighth Grade fell short of my expectations. But the trailer definitely wrote a check that the full film couldn't cash. I'd say 5.4/10, roughly, mostly because I don't want to round up to 6.
Instead of this, I wish we could have had a second season of Everything Sucks!…
This was especially noticeable near the end, when Kayla and her dad are talking about something in the car but all we can hear is Kayla's video to her college-bound self.
I don't think middle-schoolers use Twitter even now. It's too old-school.
It's actually surprising and a little disappointing that in the three weeks since release, this movie has garnered only three (including this one) reviews on Trakt, and all from men. Fortunately it seems the IMDB reviewer population is bit more diverse. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7014006/reviews
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2018-08-04T04:42:18Z
This review is primarily a tool for collecting my own thoughts, though it would be a nice bonus effect if the text and resulting rating turned out to be helpful for anyone else.
The trailer for Eighth Grade preceded the showing of Won't You Be My Neighbor? I saw last month. I have a nephew who's entering eighth grade this year, and I thought we just had to see this movie together. Bo Burnham's name had also been floating around, mostly in reference to his work as a comedian, and I suppose that name recognition factored into my interest in the film too.
I hope Burnham's comedy is as entertaining as Eighth Grade's trailer—isn't it odd that I would recognize the name without having seen his work?—and the film's ratings soundly beat every other film my nephew was interested in going to see tonight. (I was surprised to see its scores exceed even those of The Incredibles 2, though I can understand the mediocre ratings of Rampage and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.) It seemed like an easy choice, based on audience reactions, and the large turnout at the cinema reinforced that feeling.
However, I'm not entirely satisfied with the experience.
From an artistic standpoint, I appreciated many elements of this film. The way its segments are punctuated by Kayla's videos is a neat narrative device—though sometimes it was frustrating how the audio track of her would play over muted footage of some other event, blocking out any other dialogue.¹ Throughout, the cinematography was well done. Shots were well composed, and it certainly never felt like we were looking at something unimportant (or missing something important). For technical reasons, though, I wish that Kayla hadn't broken her phone's screen so early on. Given how many times it's shown in place of spoken dialogue, it would have been nice to be able to read it more easily.
Content-wise, though, the film is… tame. Uncomfortable at times, but very tame. Quite predictable, too. For a comedy, there weren't actually that many jokes—and a film with this many awkward, uncomfortable scenes definitely needs jokes to lighten the mood. Burnham's use of slightly-dated slang and memes to make adults seem "out of touch" likely won't age very well. Same for the specific references to social media services like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. The demographics on those sites will change faster than any of us think they will, and leave this movie feeling much older than it really is in just a few years.²
Other reviewers here (so far, @jb4times4 and @nmahoney416) have called out the film as being extremely relatable. I suppose it is, in the way that any stand-up comedian's material is "relatable", but I wouldn't call the writing "amazing". There's a certain feeling of superficiality to the whole thing, and not just because it's a comedy. The movie felt almost like an impressionist painting of the Teenage Girl Experience, or even a caricature. As a twenty-something guy myself, I can't claim any more experience at "being a teenage girl" than Bo Burnham can, but I'm definitely interested in reactions from people who once were teenage girls. Preferably from my generation or younger, just because I think the gap in technology between my parents' generation and mine or my nephew's deeply affects the experience of growing up. Hopefully some of my friends have seen (or will see) Eighth Grade and I can ask for their opinions.³
Ultimately, I can't really put my finger on any single reason why Eighth Grade fell short of my expectations. But the trailer definitely wrote a check that the full film couldn't cash. I'd say 5.4/10, roughly, mostly because I don't want to round up to 6.
Instead of this, I wish we could have had a second season of Everything Sucks!…
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7014006/reviews