The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Click ‘like’ for Bo Burnham’s ‘Eighth Grade’
Not even Joseph Conrad had the courage to venture into that darkest of hearts: middle school.
Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade,” however, plunges us into the dayto-day experience of a 13-yearold girl, Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) with just as much intensity as a journey down the Congo. Every sling and arrow, in the mall food court or on Snapchat, is felt acutely. Whenever Kayla’s crush, the (to her eyes) smoldering Aiden (Luke Prael), steps in the room, the world turns slow-motion and the music thunders. End-of-theyear superlatives? The horror.
Such harrowing moments have long been stretched for their comedy (“Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life”) or their torture (“Welcome to the Dollhouse”), but rarely have they been rendered with such precision and empathy. Burnham’s intimate, impressive directorial debut is armed not just with an understanding for the awkwardness of youth but with an anger at what social media and cell phones are doing to it.
The 27-year-old former YouTube “Eighth Grade” sensation turned stand-up comedian turned feature filmmaker is an unlikely guide for such a crucible of adolescence. Burnham’s comedy, while evolving, has typically been theatrically, even combatively brash. His rise was propelled by the technology he’s now turning on.
Like Burnham did as a teenager, Kayla hosts a YouTube show, only nobody watches her earnest life advice. “The hard part about being yourself is that it’s not easy,” she says into her bedroom cam-