Eighth Grade (2018)
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A socially anxious teenager navigates the pressures of middle school, social media, and self-discovery during her final week of eighth grade.
The story
Eighth grader Kayla Day is in her final week at Miles Grove Middle School, a public middle school in a small New York town. She posts motivational vlogs on YouTube about confidence and self-image that receive few to no views. Timid and struggling to make friends at school, she is voted "Most Quiet" by her classmates. Meanwhile, her single father Mark struggles to connect with her and break her reliance on social media. Kayla is invited to a pool party by a popular classmate, where she faces a panic attack but eventually meets a nerdy cousin and has an awkward encounter with her crush.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Kayla Day, a timid eighth grader in a small New York town, struggles with social anxiety while trying to gain acceptance from her peers. She creates motivational vlogs on YouTube that garner little attention and is voted "Most Quiet" by her classmates. Her single father, Mark, tries to help her reduce her social media obsession. During a pool party, Kayla experiences a panic attack but eventually meets Gabe, a nerdy classmate, and has a cringeworthy interaction with her crush, Aiden. Seeking social status, Kayla lies to Aiden about having explicit photos of herself, leading to a series of awkward and uncomfortable situations, including a coerced 'truth or dare' game with a classmate named Riley. After a high school shadow program where she meets a friendly senior named Olivia, Kayla is confronted by her father's overprotectiveness. Following a breakdown at home, she admits to her father that she isn't the confident person she portrays online. Before graduation, she calls out a popular classmate for her dismissiveness and eventually finds a sense of peace, burying a new time capsule with her father and leaving a message of perseverance for her future self.
- First release year
- 2018
- Runtime (minutes)
- 94
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Bo Burnham
- Writers
- Bo Burnham · writer; Bo Burnham · director
- Cast and characters
- Elsie Fisher · Kayla Day; Josh Hamilton · Mark Day; Emily Robinson · Olivia; Catherine Oliviere · Kennedy Graves; Jake Ryan · Gabe; Luke Prael · Aiden Wilson; Daniel Zolghadri · Riley; Fred Hechinger · Trevor
- Genres
- coming-of-age; comedy-drama
- Themes
- anxiety; social media impact; parent-child relationships; puberty; sexual consent
- Tone and mood
- realistic; cringeworthy; sensitive; honest
- Premise and plot tags
- coming-of-age; middle school; social media; anxiety; father-daughter
- Content notes
- R rating for profanity and content about fellatio
- Reception
- The film was a critical and commercial success, receiving universal acclaim for its authentic portrayal of anxiety and its exploration of social media's impact on youth.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 85 · scale: 100 · review count: 49
- Awards and nominations
- Writers Guild of America Award · Best Original Screenplay · 2018 · win; Directors Guild of America Award · Outstanding First-Time Feature · 2018 · win; National Board of Review Award · Best Directorial Debut · 2018 · win; Critics' Choice Award · Best Young Performer · 2018 · win
- Production trivia
- The film was shot over one month in mid-2017 in the New York locations Suffern, West Nyack, and White Plains.; A24 arranged one free, unrated screening in each U.S. state on August 8 to bypass the R rating.; The film's score was created by Scottish musician Anna Meredith.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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