Thanks. That makes sense.
The acting was really superb as well. That was definitely my kid at the dinner table, in the car, and in the bedroom when the door got opened. I think the performance really held it all together.
Cool idea, hope this gives the movie the exposure it deserves
The distributor gets to decide that? Seems to me that’s up to the specific locations where it’s screening for free. I don’t doubt A24 helped arrange it with the theaters, but they don’t get to just “declare” ratings won’t be enforced.
By the way, I fully support such an arrangement. What a cool idea. Variety couldn’t be bothered to link to the list of screenings, so here it is on the movie’s site.
EDIT: Ah, from the Hollywood Reporter:
Not that NATO. The other one. The National Association of Theater Owners.
-Tom
I know this won’t be a popular opinion, and it a nitpick, but when I think about it the one script flaw I saw in the film was
When she told off Kennedy unprovoked at the end. That seemed out of character for this girl and your typical 8th grader in that circumstance, and I don’t think it advanced the film - I think it was there for viewer gratification, because in that circumstance they would not do it in real life - not make a scene…
It would have been better if she told them off - but then the teacher that was telling everyone else to be quiet calls her name a couple of times - and she would realize she was imagining it - and he was calling her out because the line to graduate had started to move. It is better to recognize that she is “over it”. That’s growing up.
I think I agree with that. But I liked how she couldn’t make eye contact as she was trying to tell them off. And they still didn’t care about whatever she was saying. Maybe the idea is to reflect some change in her that she’ll carry into high school, but it did seem out of character. The karaoke scene was surprising in a similar way.
I saw this last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is no sense at all to it being rated R in a world where Mission Impossible, with exploding bloody heads, is rated PG-13.
It made me realize that, as a father of 2 daughters, I need to look for the unprovoked random and disturbing comment/criticism phase.
The father in the movie was a little clueless with regards to his influence on his daughter. “You became that person all on your own! I did nothing!” Uh…
I think F- word usage put it over.
Saw this over the weekend with my 13 daughter and 8 son.
There were lots of previews before it started and one of them was for Mid 90s. I’ve NEVER seen a completely rated R trailer in a theater before. Every single line in it had either fuck or shit. Over and over and over again. I was cringing so hard and wondering if I’d made a huge mistake taking the kids.
It turned out alright though. Son was highly uncomfortable for some of it, but wasn’t damaging or anything. More an embarrassing situation type thing. Some mild sexual content, which honestly I have bigger tolerance for with kiddos than violence.
Laughed my ass off when my son said how lame the “popsicle” in the Youtube video was. Without spoiling, that was NOT a popsicle.
Overall I really loved the movie. If I had one criticism, it would be with the fathers relationship. He was just too disconnected from her online life, and it seemed unrealistic. Either he was a clueless moron, or he just did not care that his daughter was texting and online in the middle of the night. The movie never indicated that he had actually watched the Youtube videos she was putting up (although he mentioned them). Given that he was portrayed as the “caring” type of dad, who was also tech savvy, this rang false.
I liked Almost 17 a little better, but this one is way up there and recommended.
Edit: I think the “popsicle” probably rated it the R rating.
I’m way late to the party on this one, but my son and I watched this the other night, because he’s a really big fan of Bo Burnham and wanted to see it.
(Side note: One of the weirdest things about being a parent is when your kids become fans of something that you didn’t introduce them too. I didn’t even know Bo Burnham existed until my son started telling me about him.)
I don’t know what I can say that hasn’t already been said. I completely related to it both as a former eighth grader and as a parent, which is a really strange feeling. It was awkward in parts and uncomfortable in other parts, and one scene was unexpectedly the most tense I’ve watched this year. I loved it and I can’t stop thinking about it.
I don’t know if it’s poetic or ironic, but I couldn’t convince my 16-year-old daughter to watch it with us.
I had seen it¸ but I watched it (and Edge of Seventeen and Lady Bird) with my 15.5 year old daughter the other day. She liked it a lot. She liked all of them a lot, but I think this was definitely the one she was able to identify with the most. Terrifyingly real in a lot of ways.
Nice! That’s the sort of parenting that deserves, like, a World’s Greatest Dad mug or something.
-Tom
I’m so glad that the internet and social media wasn’t a thing when I was an eighth grader waaay back in '74-75, sheesh. Just watching this now. Just got to right after Kayla’s “Be Confident” video. I wonder if she would have joined the other kids if her skinny “dreamboat” hadn’t said something about how the others were all in the other room.
BTW did anyone else feel like the dad could have been a bit less apologetic/ineffectual? He just came off like a wimp when Kayla was mad at him and she was in the photobooth. I don’t have kids, and maybe it’s just the way I was raised, but he could have been a bit more assertive and let her know who the parent was in the relationship. It would have helped her more.
But he’s the one who messed up! He may have had his heart in the right place but OMIGOD SO EMBARRASSING. He owes her an apology and he knows it. So he apologizes. “Dads suck.”
It’s an age where you’re supposed to let them go but it’s just so hard. He wanted so badly for Kayla to “put. herself. out there.” because he knew how badly she wanted it. Then when it happens, he just ends up interfering and, well, not letting go.
Plus, remember, he’s a single dad. “When your mom left…” is vague enough that it could mean divorce or even that she died.
I try to reserve the kind of stern-dad, tough-love anger you’re describing for when my daughter’s teen moodiness results in her mistreating her sister, mom, or me.
The fact that the dad is a little soft and sometimes ineffectual is one of the big things that makes me love this film. In my experience, being a father is a matter of constantly feeling inadequate. Inadequately deliberate, inadequately sensitive, inadequately strict, inadequately engaged. But alongside this, I always think about the fact that they have their own interior worlds and I control only one small part of that. Kayla’s dad expresses this sentiment about her specifically–that she’s a kid who has kind of always found her way on her own, despite his inadequacies–and I think (maybe I should say, “I hope”) that this is true to varying extents about every kid. I’m kind of counting on my fumbling parenting simply giving my kids the essential feeling that someone loves them no matter what, and then anything else I manage to do right is just gravy. Time will tell if this philosophy is at all correct.
I have no seen 8th Grade, but thank you for capturing my feelings of fatherhood 100%.
You should. We just watched it over the weekend. I’m not a parent, but at my age, most all my friends are. The sense of, “I have no idea what I’m doing but thank god they are turning out okay,” is very strong. And the movie itself is funny, awkward, and takes you back to your own awkwardness in a way I did not expect, at all. I really enjoyed the movie.
Wow. I think this tops all of all the disparities in This Film Is Not Yet Rated. It’s absurd that a wholesome film like this should be an R and so many ridiculously violent and morally reprehensible films get a PG13.
Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Parenthood films are often a bit wasted on me, for obvious reasons, but this one struck home.