First Take: Eighth Grade- the student has become the teacher

SYNOPSIS: An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.

It’s been delayed so long for us British audiences- but today, the debut film from comedian Bo Burnham is out in the UK, competing against Avengers Endgame. Was it worth the wait? Kind of. But there are a few minor schoolboy errors that keep it from being the perfect film.

Burnham writes and directs this one based on his own experiences in the American middle school system- that’s the equivalent of year 9 for our UK readers- and while it does feel very truthful and honest, the style and pacing of the film just doesn’t sit right with me. Yes, it’s a 93 minute film, and the humour is good, but the general feel is that the film would’ve worked better as a Netflix release. It’s shot well by Andrew Wehde, and Anna Meredith’s score just about does the job.

Where this film excels is in the performances, notably the lead role from Elsie Fisher. The voice of Agnes in the first 2 Despicable Me films has well and truly grown up, and her Golden Globe nomination for this film was fully deserved, and the film has all the hallmarks of a real indie gem- we’ve got Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson and a pretty unknown cast to round out the talents, but this film is rightly built around Fisher’s lead performance, something which stands out even with the stylistic choices of the film impacting on the overall enjoyment.

THE VERDICT

For a first-time director, Eighth Grade is a neat little debut for Bo Burnham, with a star-making performance from Elsie Fisher. But as is the case with a lot of debut films, I have to grade this a high B with the following comments- needs a little bit of improvement.

RATING: 4/5