Eighth Grade marks the beginning of a teenage girl’s coming of age journey, where it feels as if every little thing matters. The summer movie, Eighth Grade, explicitly creates the feeling of what it’s like to be in eighth grade all over again. From the drama and mean girls, to newfound interest in boys, and social media, the last year of middle school can be a complete bust.

Despite the movie’s R rating for sexual content, there were showings for teens as they were the target audience. On August 8th, each state held their own free screening of the movie, unrated, so that teens could view it. However, tickets were limited.

Eighth grade now is a different dynamic compared to our parents generation. With a chance to relive middle school in the modern world, it offers insight into today’s teens. It shows parents how as soon as a teen puts in their earbuds, they shut out the world around them, and go scope out a world of their own; aka the internet. As if teens today have two versions of themselves, the one online and in person.

The main character Kayla was portrayed by actress, and real eighth grader during the filming of the movie, Elise Fisher. The things that seperated this movie from any other coming of age movie is that they picked a girl who actually looked like an eighth grader. She had acne, she wasn’t too skinny, and she wasn’t perfect. It feels like there is this pressure within society to always look older than your actual age, however, this movie captured the hard truth. Nowadays, most movies have this beautiful main character, but the fact that Fisher looked her age allowed the audience to really connect with her. Looking back, only some of us looked good in eighth grade. From our weird quirks, to quoting vines, and using ridiculous slang, eighth grade really was an awkward time for many.

The movie gets you to feel something. It’s not like every artificial chick flick where she finds her happy ever after; It’s the truth. Although Eighth grade is targeted for teens, it’s a movie that allows adults a glimpse into the lives of our generation; they were once in the eighth grade too. It’s a movie that gets you to reflect on how the things that mattered to you then, seem so little to you now.