High School Comedy IV

Eighth Grade 📱

👻 Happy Friday the 13th! Fun fact about myself: While the movies aren’t objectively the best, the Friday the 13th series is my favorite 80s slasher franchise.

Because it’s a spooky day, on the last day of our week dedicated to High School Comedies 🏫 I’m suggesting a horror movie. Well, not really. But if middle school isn’t a real-life horror movie, then I don’t know what is.

If you have any feedback or movie suggestions, reply to this email! I’d love to hear from you.

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Eighth Grade

STREAMING ON PRIME VIDEO

What it’s about: Eighth Grade, the first movie written and directed by comedian Bo Burnham, follows Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) during her last week of 8th grade. And as a 13-year-old teenage girl with social anxiety, she has to deal with the worst things possible: a pool party, karaoke, and her dad following her at the mall.

Why it’s great: There’s so much to like about Eighth Grade, from its dry wit to the directorial flourishes Burnham puts in to show us what the world looks like from Kayla’s perspective. And for adults, there’s commentary on Generation Z’s reliance on social media and the barrier it creates for them in the real world. However, Slate’s Dana Stevens put it best:

Whether or not you currently have a preteen child, every adult has been one, and it’s almost neurologically impossible not to avert your face in burning-cheeked sympathy when Kayla, face to face with the popular girls she both longs to impress and fears like the ego-destroying monsters they can be, can only summon the emptiest sycophantic banter. “By the way, I like your shirt a lot. It’s, like, so cool.” Long pause. “I have a … shirt … too.”

The key players:

• 🎬🖋 Bo Burnham

• 🎭 Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan, Fred Hechinger

The details: ⏳ 94 minutes // 🇺🇸 U.S. // 📺 Trailer

Fun fact: Originally, Burnham had all the teen characters using Facebook. Elsie Fisher had to let him know that no one her age uses Facebook, so he had to change the script to have them use Instagram and Snapchat. It’s okay, Bo. None of us really know what the youth is doing.

Don’t have Prime Video? Eighth Grade is available to buy or rent on Prime Video, iTunes, or Google Play.

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What I watched this week

Instead of including an “In movie news” section on Fridays, I’m going to try out giving you an overview of some of the movies I watched this week. Let me know what you think by replying to this email!

👠 Hustlers

• In one of the biggest surprises this year, I walked out of Lorene Scafaria’s crime/drama/comedy Hustlers hailing it as a near-masterpiece. Here’s a snippet from my review:

  Hustlers is an incredibly complex movie. Not only is it hilarious and charming, it delivers commentary on complicated themes of female relationships, the power dynamic between men and women, and the struggle of the working class.

  

🎈 It Chapter Two

• On the other hand, in one of the biggest disappointments of the year, the follow-up to 2017’s It is possibly one of the worst studio movies I’ve seen this year. Here’s a snippet from my review:

  [Director Andy] Muschietti and screenwriter Gary Dauberman try to make the movie funnier, scarier, more intense, and more emotional. As a result, it’s none of those things.

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And that’s a wrap for our week dedicated to high school comedies. Next week, I’ll be back with a fresh theme. See you then!

Have a great weekend,
Karl (@karl_delo)