The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Jonah Hill shows filmmaking promise with ‘Mid90s’
Jonah Hill debuts as a feature filmmaker with decent if flawed nostalgic coming-of-age tale ‘Mid90s’
Were “Mid90s” not written and directed by Jonah Hill — a prolific actor who’s starred in everything from 2007 raunchy teen comedy “Superbad” to the new Netflix sci-fi dramedy miniseries “Maniac” — it probably wouldn’t get quite the attention it is garnering. ¶ After all, this is a movie shot on 16mm, in the old-school 4-by-3 aspect ratio and for what could not have been a great deal of money, at least relative to what’s spent to make most movies being released fairly widely, as “Mid90s” is. ¶ And that would have been a shame — if only a relative one — as “Mid90s” works as a coming-of-age story and, to a lesser degree, a cautionary tale.
On the other hand, Hill — working for the first time as a solo writer and making his feature-directing debut — doesn’t get to any grand place with his storytelling here.
This tale of a pre-teen Los Angeles boy who makes friends with some older skateboarders and vigorously embraces their at-times-dangerous-and-destructive lifestyle provides some humor and some moments to which many of us no doubt can relate. However, when the brief feature is done, it feels more like a low-calorie lunch than a full dinner.
Hill says the film — set, of course, in the middle of the 1990s, made obvious by dressings such as hairstyles, the music being played and a “Street Fighter II” Tshirt — is not exactly autobiographical but is based on his general experiences growing up skateboarding in LA. So while maybe Hill wasn’t just like his main character, Stevie (Sunny Suljic, who was 11 during filming), he surely knew skaters like Na-kel Smith’s Ray, Gio Galicia’s Ruben, Ryder McLaughlin’s Fourth Grade and the long-haired teen played by Olan Prenatt, whose eight-letter nickname is based on a combination of back-to-back expletives he utters frequently when taken aback by something. For the purposes of this review — and thanks so much, Mr. Hill — we’ll refer to him as “FS.”
Stevie lives at home with his mom, Dabney (Katherine Waterston of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and its upcoming sequel), and his older brother, Ian (Lucas Hedges of “Manchester by the Sea” and “Lady Bird”), who regularly beats the tar out of him, efficiently illustrated in the film’s opening seconds.
One day, Stevie wanders into a skateboard shop where Ray works and listens as the older boy and his friends have asinine conversations, including a really unfortunate round of “Would You Rather.” Stevie is enchanted by them and soon falls in with them.
Previously the youngest member of the group, Ruben sees Stevie as a way to take one step up in the social hierarchy and tries to show the newbie the ropes.
“Don’t thank people,” Ruben scolds Stevie early on after a polite outburst by the latter. “They’re going to think you’re gay.”
(That, by the way, feels very much like what someone Ruben’s age might have said in that period of time and works as an example of Hill’s solid hand at penning dialogue for these characters.)
Desperate to fit in — there may be nothing “Mid90s” get more right than its portrayal of the importance of acceptance — Stevie persistently practices the basics of boarding. Soon enough, he is able to hang with the gents as they skate down the middle of a relatively busy five-lane avenue.
If you’re of a certain age, even that behavior will seem risky enough. But hanging with the group also leads Stevie to start smoking, drinking and using drugs. It understandably upsets his mother, and his brother’s evolving reaction to Stevie’s behavior is another point in Hill’s favor. It helps to have the talented Hedges in what ultimately is a role with little screen time.
As Stevie’s status with the group improves, it generates predictable resentment on the part of Ruben. At the same time, a rift is growing between best friends Ray and FS, who have grown up skating together and dreaming of becoming pros. However, Ray has a better head on his shoulders and a lot more drive, FS preferring at every turn to look for his next opportunity to get wasted.
Hill has scripted some very identifiable characters, a few of whom come to life in the hands of unknown actors. No one is more impressive than Smith, a skateboarder and founding member of the rap group Odd Future, making his feature-film debut. Ray is the most well-rounded of the group, and Smith is convincing when, late in the proceedings, Ray tries to impart some wisdom on young Stevie, whose tendencies are increasingly alarming.
As Stevie, Suljic (“The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “The House With a Clock in Its Walls”) helps us experience — or re-experience — all the emotions and decisions, largely bad, that might come when a boy wants something as badly as Stevie wants a place with this group. The simply awful way Stevie treats his mother, a woman desperate to keep her son safe, at one point? Yup, feels right.
On a whole, though, “Mid90s” feels like it should have been something a bit more. At fewer than 90 minutes long, the film plays like a work that may have had slightly larger ambitions before decisions, possibly wise ones, were made in the editing room.
Still, Hill warrants watching as a director. He handles character well, and there is an incredibly effective bit of filmmaking during a key moment very late in “Mid90s.”
“Mid90s” deserves your attention, But considering its low-tech vibe, you can wait to enjoy in your home theater as opposed to the one down the street with the overpriced popcorn.