What makes it different from others?

Perfectly adorable

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Like Jordan Peele and John Krasinski before him, Bo Burnham creates a film that has no business being as great as it was. Eighth Grade is exactly the kind of film John Hughes would make if he were alive today. The actors really shine here. I can't think of even one line that wasn't delivered perfectly, which is even more impressive when you consider the fact that there's only one major adult character, the rest are all kids. Can we attribute that to Burnham's direction or are these actors really that great? Who cares? Neither answer changes the fact that Kayla is more relatable than just about any protagonist in 2018 film as a whole. Equally as impressive is the technical quality of Eighth Grade, which contains some of the best cinematography I've seen all year. Burnham and cinematographer Andrew Wehde seem to have had a lot of fun with this film, throwing in long zooms akin to 70s horror films, dramatic superimposing footage, and a nice mix of dolly work and handheld. The electronica music also fits perfectly with the tone of this film, which is elated and hilarious at its height and absolutely soul crushing at its lowest. All in all, during my screening of Eighth Grade I delighted in and suffered through my fair share of flashbacks to middle school despite having graduated six years before this film is set, which (to me) demonstrates the timelessness and accuracy of the writing and the film as a whole. After discussing this movie with a few friends I decided that I could not find one thing I didn't like about this movie. This is the closest thing I've seen to a perfect movie in a long, long time.

With all the rave reviews, I was expecting Eighth Grade to become one of my favorite movies. However, it fell incredibly short of my expectations. The main character was extremely annoying, the plot was dull and slow paced, and the overall movie was cringey to say the least. While the film touched on a plethora of coming of age themes, none of them were wholly original or ground-breaking. Overall, Eighth Grade comes across as a movie catered to film critics instead of a relatable coming of age film for all ages to enjoy.

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.

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