CCFF 2018: Eighth Grade

✰✰✰✰​ (out of five)

Synopsis: ​Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school -- the end of her thus far disastrous eighth-grade year.

Review: "Eighth Grade" does strike a nerve with me, like it does many others. Writer-director Bo Burnham does capture that unique angst of middle school. So many kids that age feel like that--in the middle. Of a clique, of misunderstanding, of being a child and an adult, and of life. It's almost a midlife crisis. A middle school crisis, if you will. Elsie Fisher does a splendid job of conveying the struggles of that age. Its a somewhat difficult role to encapsulate: don't get overly cheesy, stay grounded and be honest. It is a contemporary picture with references and characters that may not hold up, but has enough story and willing players to hold up with an above average passing grade.