Review by Ian Delia
Eight Grade is a mellow film with big meaning. All I can say is wow. This film pulls on your heart bleeding out all emotions. The story of a girl who is confident behind the screen of a computer but in real life she is shy, insecure, and has a hard time being herself. The message of a young eighth grade girl that is easy to relate to your experiences for all audiences. For kids or students these life skills are critically important to learn and to constantly observe for as a parent, teacher, or an adult universally speaking.
It is the last week of middle school (eighth grade). Young Kayla (Elsie Fisher) is always happy behind the camera on her YouTube channel. She talks about being confident and outgoing she is, but realistically she is the complete opposite of how she is in her videos. Whereas in reality she is the soft spoken girl who tries to be nice to all. People always look at her as an annoying girl or don’t even act like she’s even there. Most of the time she talks to people, they ignore her by hiding their face with their phones. They give light responses of fake interest in what she have to say in response.  Kayla is not a big fan of being recognized by anyone. I guess you can say that she is a wallflower with nobody to water her.
Realistically, everyone goes through situations like what happens in this film. Doesn’t matter your age or generation. It is something that is inevitable for everyone. Sometimes we even lie to be looked at by the popular group. Her crush Riley (Daniel Zolghadri) is a player who expects too much from girls and dumps who won’t comply with his sexual and inappropriate “standardsâ€. As for Kayla, she makes a comment about that subject which peaks his interest.
For most people, transitioning from middle school to high school is hard. But Kayla loved it right away. The girl she was shadowing, Olivia (Emily Robinson), was very nice and very enjoyable with positivity bursting like fireworks. Kayla and Olivia became friends at the first moment they were paired up. Olivia helps her set aside the quiet sadness that Kayla has in middle school and that’s the turning point of the story.
I like the film very much as you can see from my opening statement and for sure it hits all the buttons that I can remember when I attended 8th Grade a little over 4 years ago. This movie has multiple lessons to learn and it really speaks to the audience as for me.
This movie was rated R for rude language with rude gestures and sexual situations and innuendos. If you are a preteen, you should see the film with a legal age adult, but be sure to find the right person and see the film so you will know what to expect or at the least get entertained.
(4.5 out of 5 stars)