EIGHTH GRADE (2018) ** ½

Kayla (Elsie Fisher) is a shy introvert who spends most of her free time making YouTube videos and taking selfies using Instagram filters.  When she’s voted “Most Quiet” by her peers, Kayla spends her last week of eighth grade opening herself up to new experiences.  She goes to a popular girl’s pool party and even gets to hang out with some older high school kids, with predictable results.

Eighth Grade depicts a coming of age story for a generation far removed from mine.  I mean the social outcasts still have to worry about being excluded by the bitchy popular students, but at least these kids don’t have to make eye contact with them because they’re always on their goddamned phones.  I guess it’s because he’s closer to my age, but I wound up empathizing more with the dad, played by Josh Hamilton.  His scenes with Fisher are appropriately awkward and ring the truest.

Fisher gives a solid, natural performance.  So natural, that at times she kind of gets on your nerves.  I mean if you take a shot every time she says the word “like” during her YouTube videos, you’ll probably die from alcohol poisoning long before the credits roll.  Her performance isn’t quite enough to save the movie from its overly familiar trappings, but it should prove to be a good showcase for her talents for many years to come. 

One thing I pretty much couldn’t stand was the awful score.  It just seems like pure noise and rarely (if ever) fits the scene it’s supposed to accompany.  It’s probably the worst score since It Follows, which is really saying something.