Obviously working off a miniscule budget, producer/director/screenwriter Bo Burnham managed to put together a video poem or ode to a trial of childhood most of us are familiar with - middle school. However, the parade of aching situations endured by Kayla (aptly performed by Elsie Fisher) during her last week of eighth grade seemed more allegorical than real.
From her isolated immersion into cyber fantasy (presumably, as you never really see what she's spending all her alone time looking at), to her acne, to her estranged relationship with her sole parent, to her being the only (slightly) chubby eighth grader at a large pool party, to her struggle with language, well...absolutely nothing is going well for poor Kayla.
Even an exciting preview of High School ends in profound distress.
Although you may feel the distant plucking of heart strings as you sympathize for Kayla, I don't see the film as a whole representing what middle school is for most all of the young inmates. Any one or several of the situations might have been more meaningful had one element been added to the movie - a story. There was no story...none.
To Burnham's credit, the middle school atmosphere he surrounds Kayla with was true to form. Unfortunately for a mid-century viewer like myself, the 21st century language of young teens (if accurate) and Kayla's way-too-long video selfies made the overall feel of the film drag.
Though the movie ends on a positive note, the hapless father (played by struggling actor Josh Hamilton) gets a hug and Kayla is able to get out some of her frustrations in complete sentences (sort of), I wondered if I had just been taken for a ride. Watching this ode to middle school I kept waiting, all through it, for something to happen. Alas, nothing did.
Even as my heart went out to Kayla, like middle school for myself and my kids, I was glad when it ended.
Three Winks, Two Stinks
From her isolated immersion into cyber fantasy (presumably, as you never really see what she's spending all her alone time looking at), to her acne, to her estranged relationship with her sole parent, to her being the only (slightly) chubby eighth grader at a large pool party, to her struggle with language, well...absolutely nothing is going well for poor Kayla.
Even an exciting preview of High School ends in profound distress.
Although you may feel the distant plucking of heart strings as you sympathize for Kayla, I don't see the film as a whole representing what middle school is for most all of the young inmates. Any one or several of the situations might have been more meaningful had one element been added to the movie - a story. There was no story...none.
To Burnham's credit, the middle school atmosphere he surrounds Kayla with was true to form. Unfortunately for a mid-century viewer like myself, the 21st century language of young teens (if accurate) and Kayla's way-too-long video selfies made the overall feel of the film drag.
Though the movie ends on a positive note, the hapless father (played by struggling actor Josh Hamilton) gets a hug and Kayla is able to get out some of her frustrations in complete sentences (sort of), I wondered if I had just been taken for a ride. Watching this ode to middle school I kept waiting, all through it, for something to happen. Alas, nothing did.
Even as my heart went out to Kayla, like middle school for myself and my kids, I was glad when it ended.
Three Winks, Two Stinks
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