83
What makes this coming-of-age film special is that it’s at once harsh and humanist: a perceptive, realistic comedy about tweenage life that’s also rich in compassion, that scarcest of junior-high commodities.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
Screen Daily by Anthony Kaufman
While Eighth Grade may look, on its surface, like a typical adolescent comedy, with its underdog protagonist pitted against popular girls and boy crushes, it is more a piquant series of vignettes that form a singular and focused portrait of youthful angst.
90
Eighth Grade rejects predictable plot points and instead lives on the electric edge of awkwardness and uncertainty and doubt that represents the middle school experience; you never quite know what’s going to happen to Kayla, and that feels right.
90
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Emily Yoshida
Eighth Grade is cognizant of all the new scary realities of growing up with an internet-connected camera on your person at all times, but it also finds hope in it, as, if nothing else, a tool for self-discovery.
75
One of Eighth Grade‘s greatest strengths is its specificity related to the current generation.
83
Fisher must be given immense credit for making it all work as her performance is pitch-perfect in every respect. Sometimes, it feels like you’re not even watching an actress perform but an actual person. The way Burnham shot some of the scenes makee it feel like non-fiction rather than fiction.
80
Eighth Grade is lovely work, lifted up by a timeless piece of indie wisdom: Keep it real, as cringe-inducing as that can be.
91
At every turn, Fisher is honest and open, relatable to the point that you feel as if you’re actually watching her own life play out.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin
Newcomer Elsie Fisher offers a breakout performance.
90
Eighth Grade” shines as, like, a totally spot-on, you know, portrait of Millennial angst and stuff. That may be how Kayla (and all her peers) talk...but Burnham shows a sociolinguist’s ear for the cadence and flow of 21st-century girl-speak, and Fisher...delivers his dialogue so naturally, you’d swear she’s making it up as she goes along.
I love this movie no matter how many times Kayla makes me want to hide my face in my hands. The sheer number of cringe-inducing moments is probably the best indicator that this is a real, honest representation of what it feels like to be in eighth grade, especially in the (unforgiving) internet age. Films about teen girls tend to be more critical than accurate, but Bo Burnham gets it right — exactly, painfully, unfortunately right.