This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. And "Eighth Grade" proves that he not only gets them, but he can make audiences get them. After all, Bo Burnham is 10 years older than these high school seniors, 14 years older than Kayla. MONDELLO: But there's hope for understanding. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As character) See? UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Fifth grade? What? Yo, see? UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Fifth? UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Fifth grade. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) She didn't have Twitter in middle school, and we did. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) She's four years younger than us. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Yes, she is. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) She's not a different generation. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) She's a different generation than us. And more than anything, it's a reminder that things move really fast at that age. MONDELLO: "Eighth Grade" turns out to be an appealingly generous portrait of adolescent awkwardness, also of parental awkwardness, though Josh Hamilton's fumbling dad is a keeper. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Just grabbed my phone, had to charge it.įISHER: (As Kayla) Yeah, I mean, sometimes I charge it, too, my phone. Pretty much everything writer-director Bo Burnham has done before this would lead you to expect snap and snark from "Eighth Grade." But he's encouraged Elsie Fisher to make Kayla vulnerable and observant and then put her in situations that are played less for laughs than for smiles of recognition - the boy who's so determined to impress he undermines himself with every phrase, the pool party as rite of passage, the crush that goes unexpressed because how could you ever get those words out? So just, like, be quiet, and drive, and don't look weird and sad. And then I get really freaked out, and then I can't text my friend. Just, like, don't be weird and quiet 'cause, like, I look over at you, and I think you're about to drive us into a tree or something. Hey, how was the shadow thing?įISHER: (As Kayla) No, you were being quiet, which is fine. Just, like, don't be weird and quiet while you do it. MONDELLO: An invitation follows to join her and some high school pals at the mall, a huge deal for Kayla if she can just survive the drive over with her dad.įISHER: (As Kayla) Can you not look like that please?įISHER: (As Kayla) Just, like, the way you're looking.įISHER: (As Kayla) You can look at the road, Dad. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Eighth grade is the worst. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) I was a complete mess when I was your age. But a friendly high school senior lets her know that that's kind of normal. Her fear is that she'll always be as tentative and nervous as she is now. OK, so, like, what does that mean? Where is there? Well, there can be anywhere that you wouldn't usually go, you know, maybe because it's, like, weird or scary or something like that. They're sort of pep talks for herself.įISHER: (As Kayla) So the topic of today's video is putting yourself out there. As a bulwark against loneliness, she makes life advice YouTube videos that she doesn't really expect anyone to watch. MONDELLO: Dad doesn't realize, but she's actually hearing him when he says to put herself out there. HAMILTON: (As Mark) You said I could say one thing. Maybe you just need to put yourself out there a little.įISHER: (As Kayla) I'm going to stop eating with you.įISHER: (As Kayla). HAMILTON: (As Mark) I think you're so cool. He's aware that Kayla doesn't have many friends and that she's eager to hang with the cool crowd in school but is falling short. HAMILTON: (As Mark) I said, one more week of eighth grade, right? JOSH HAMILTON: (As Mark) Kayla, one more week of eighth grade, huh? Critic Bob Mondello says if you're familiar with Bo Burnham's caustic sense of humor, the comedy in his new film "Eighth Grade" will surprise you.īOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Kayla is 13, precocious, sweet, a middle school student who like a lot of kids her age spends even dinnertime with eyes glued to her smartphone, ears sporting earbuds. And at this year's Sundance Film Festival, he added movie director to that list. He's now 27 with an impressively diverse resume - musician, comedian, writer, producer, singer-songwriter, rapper, actor, poet. YouTube star Bo Burnham is known for the rapid-fire comic videos he started making as a teenager.
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