iTunes Exclusive Episode Eighth Grade
Rob and Don review Bo Burnham's directorial debut Eighth Grade, a coming-of-age film following Kayla Day (LC Fisher) through her final week of middle school as she navigates the transition to high school. The film explores universal themes of adolescent awkwardness, social anxiety, and self-discovery through the story of a shy eighth-grader who presents a peppy, confident persona on her vlog but struggles with social confidence in real life.
About this episode
Key takeaways
- The film captures the awkwardness and anxiety of being 13 and transitioning from middle school to high school with authenticity and emotional depth
- LC Fisher's performance effectively conveys the disconnect between Kayla's online persona and her reserved real-life demeanor
- Bo Burnham's use of contemporary technology like Snapchat and Instagram grounds the story in present day without alienating older viewers through universal themes
- The film is well-paced despite covering significant emotional ground in just over an hour and a half
Q&A
What is the main premise of Eighth Grade?
The film follows Kayla Day, an eighth-grader and vlogger, through her last week of middle school as she deals with social anxiety, mean girls, and the transition to high school while raising questions about identity and self-discovery.
How does Kayla present herself differently online versus in real life?
On her vlogs, Kayla is peppy and upbeat, talking about life lessons, but at school she is very shy, reserved, and socially awkward.
Is this Bo Burnham's first feature film as director?
Yes, he has done some minor directing work before, but this is his first significant directorial effort.
What level of recommendation do the hosts give for seeing Eighth Grade?
Rob recommends seeing it at full price at a theater, calling it a must-see for anyone who has experienced the transition from middle school to high school.
Read Transcript
Greetings and empire members and empire member and or members. If you're hearing sound of my voice it means you subscribe to the clubhouse podcast on your favorite podcast app. We are your one stop shop for all things pop culture because it's time for another aah to the school sale.
This will be number 406 if I did the math right if not just check the the episode description. My name is Rob by the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast and for this particular episode I'm going to reference the year 1987 but I'm not alone for this sitting across from me is the official fact checker of this show and a man who's probably going to reference somewhere around that same year as we talk about this next film. You may know him as fond on go but his mom and him and don't ford I'm going to come don't ford welcome sir weird thing I was in eighth grade in 1987 true stuff why I said that okay thanks for being here yeah whenever we do one of these it is to review something this is no exception boat burn him that you may know him as a comedian he's also a writer director and as Don just said we're going to talk about eight grade for something yes sir we got things Josh and our best friends a line integrated marketing one of our vendors we love our vendors so much they let us see movies early so we can talk to you guys about them this movie was huge its Sundance a lot of buzz at South by Southwest was actually shown here locally at the Dallas International Film Festival this year and I missed it I was very upset but I'm glad it's come back around here's what you need to know LC Fisher plays Kayla day and this is literally it's about an hour and a half long this is literally about her last year her her last week of eighth grade okay she is a vlogger video blog we we assume YouTube but YouTube's name is not on it when she does her vlogs she's very peppy she's very upbeat she likes to talk to people about life lessons but when she's not on camera in her room she's very shy and reserved at school it's a very interesting difference yeah in real life posture is very different she's very guarded she wants to be better but she's just she's just kind of socially awkward in that public room they could be real outgoing but then when they're alone it's like sometimes I like you sometimes you're home alone you're quiet but you get on the mic this is the other way around yeah this is the other way around yeah the there's only two words that I can use to describe this film and it's wonderfully awkward this film is it's it's amazing it's a great film it's very well done but the thing about it is the way Burnham does this film it's it's very very real and I was concerned with that with all the use because he was actually originally when you wrote the script he wanted to he had the kids talking to each other on Facebook and LC Fisher said hey nobody uses Facebook anymore and that line actually made it made it into the film really so he uses things like Snapchat and Instagram and and things like that as these kids and I was like with the use of technology I don't know if if old man Rob is going to be able to really identify with this yeah he didn't do much directing he's been more he's a comedian yes the first thing he's done well he's done some minor minor stuff but directing what yeah so it's kind of maybe because it's it's a new kind of realm for him in a way I don't know no I think I think you have a great job yeah okay but I was worried about the use of technology turning old man Rob and completely taking me out of it okay it didn't okay there are universal themes here I always tell people you know I was a 13 year old boy for a whole year once okay you know that I don't remember a lot about the end of eighth grade I remember going home after the last day of school but I do remember thinking to myself I'm about to go to high school like this is a big deal yeah as well James junior high and Billings and that transition where you're going from a decent sized fish to a decent sized pond to a very small fish and a very large pond there is some anxiety that comes with that and this and that bleed through here because she's dealing Kayla deals with a lot of different things she's an only child she's being raised by a single father named Mark played by Josh Hamilton she's dealing with mean girls and she's dealing with not really having a core of friends that she can rely on and it's all very real it's all very raw and emotional and it's all done really really well there's a take place two day in modern like 19 okay okay I mean she's in the eighth grade class of 2017 okay okay so it's really neat the way the characters all flesh out because it really is Kayla's story but there's little things about the surrounding characters that there's there are moments where your heart breaks for her my heart break broke for her there are moments where I was cheering for her there's a lot of laugh out loud moments in this but there's a lot of moments where I found myself just oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear you know but it's so well done and it flies now you can't really do the watch dates here because my watch battery died before the only started hour 34 but I can't say I heard somebody's watch beep which is at the top of an hour yeah and I went wow I guess we're an hour into this thing now so it's it's really well-paced especially for an hour and a half it tells a lot of story in an hour and a half that I think will resonate with a lot of people acting overall and you get great stars LC Fisher LC Fisher it's her story and she's amazing I mean but I'm talking about like the supporting cast anybody in support there's not anybody in it besides her dad long enough to even talk about okay okay because this is her story all right and she absolutely crushes it the look of the film how was it it's it's what it needs to be okay you know I mean Bob Burnham shoots it very very well but there's just man there's moments where I just I found myself catching my own breath because of some of the situations she winds up in I wouldn't say this is a dark film by any means but again it's just very it's awkward because being 13 is awkward and I think Burnham really captures that really well and I think from what he wrote on the page I think LC Fisher does a great job encapsulating that with the right vocal patterns with the right ums and the right likes and there are people in my life that she reminded me very strongly of at that age so this could be for a lot of people let's remember back and when I was a kid kind of thing absolutely absolutely okay what's your biggest gripe some of it got a little too real so where I found myself like grabbing the arm of the chair or just kind of gripping it pretty hard because I was like oh dear like I said would there be a couple scenes where I'd be doing this doing the little not in that fashion okay okay all right that's my big question but more of the oh goodness or it'd be kind of like when I give that you probably you the wide-eyed stare yeah probably you see not a few times but yeah absolutely I think you would really enjoy this okay it's really really good I know you weren't with us that night you were we were dividing and conquering I was in the next theater over yeah sometimes we got to divide and conquer what we do on the show but this movie is a may zing this this deserves all of the accolades it's got it deserves all the accolades it's going to get me talk at the beginning of here I don't know because this is an indie film an indie film is tough to break through uh the indie spirit awards when that happens I wouldn't be surprised if you hear this type I don't but I don't know if this film could break through that far okay it's gonna get a very limited run but I I mean it's like I said it was one of the talks of Sundance okay and you know it's being distributed by 824 so it's gonna get a national run I just don't know that it's going to get the the exposure and recognition I think it deserves okay because it is that good it is that much fun it is that intense it is everything you need a film to be about somebody dealing with being 13 to be that's a big underlying message is just talking about kids and kids today and what kids I'm not even kids today I mean some of these these concepts that she deals with are universal I'm just trying to find out who you are which is very tough to do at 13 yeah but again you're you're a teenager and you know everything in the world is your oyster yeah you know and to see it through those lenses it's really well done and I was incredibly impressed with this film yeah I could kind of young and dumb but you think you know everything and you don't indeed okay I like that awkwardly you know wonderfully awkward I mean it's just like me all right all right anything else you want to know yeah all right let's get to the final analysis we do the final analysis on the show we're not gonna give you thumbs up thumbs down letter grades literally numbers anything like that two questions question number ones what I see this again if the answer is no we're done here but if the answer is yes the follow up question is how far would I be willing to go to do so from the best of the best of the worst of the best here's how it goes full price at a theater down to a twilight showing down to a matinee down to early morning on a weekend down to second run at the dollar theater down to actually leaving the house get it from red box down to netflix down to cable drop yes are acquiring minds more I know as I'm told they do would you see this film again I would absolutely see this film again okay so what level are you recommending it or would you go to see it again let's see it this way the full price coverage absolutely you wow this is a must see everybody's been 13 for a year of their lives everybody's been through going from middle school or junior high to senior high and this film encapsulates that brilliantly big question yes sir would the fantastic pay forward with her thing in Nigeria would this relate to her to do you think she was 13 months okay I mean it's it's what she liked this film you know I think she would very much enjoy there there might be certain things that maybe don't translate well but I think if you see it with her you could say this is what this is and and she could say oh yeah okay now I get the cuz there's gonna be I feel I really feel like there's something that everybody can identify with at some point in this film okay it is Bo Burnham for and it is eighth grade for this whole thing yes I think Josh your best friends allied in great marketing we love our vendors so much they do so much cool stuff for us and we can talk to you guys about movies and you can spend your entertainment dollar accordingly let's get out of here do the plug shall we or strike that reverse it visit our website where you can find my written review for eighth grade it is www.theclubhousepodcast.com find out everything you need to know and some stuff you don't you can follow us on social media twitter is at clubhouse show everything else is the clubhouse podcast all three words in that order you can wind up somewhere else you can follow me on social media if you'd like everything is yes that rob urban that has felt ERVIN my normal co-host for this show is Chad Womack you can follow him at chat NPG 6.9 now I'm at fun dongle and twitter two eighths of you and three of us at the end also email me at Don at clubhousepodcast.com email Don for information on how we can come do a live show for you we love doing live remote shows and hanging out with the empire you can email me questions comments concerns somebody to go pound sand I am rob at the clubhousepodcast.com Chad is Chad at the clubhousepodcast.com Charlotte Parker's on Pinterest because we're morally obligated to say that Jules Womack's hanging out with Chad Faith Ford waiting on Don our normal weekly show is your one-stop shop for all things pop culture make sure that you're liking us on social media make sure that you're subscribing to us on your favorite podcast app make sure you rate us make sure you review us help us get the word out so until next time for Don and the Empire I'm Rob clubhouse is close for it you Palmer teacher at the middle school I'm just saying