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Meet Eighth Grade's star pupils this Saturday

Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson in town for Q&As

Relive 8th grade with Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson.
Relive 8th grade with Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson.

As if an opportunity to relive the last hellish week of grade school weren't enough, the two star students of Eighth Grade will be in town this weekend to celebrate the film's opening.

Video:

Trailer for Eighth Grade

If your knowledge of Elsie Fisher's work is limited to precocious little Agnes in the Despicable Me franchise, here's your chance to match the voice to the face. Emily Robinson fans are sure to remember her numerous bits on SNL as well as her work as Young Rose on Transparent.

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Fisher stars as Kayla, the 13-year-old soon-to-be-graduate whose life is in mid-meltdown. The only visible sign of relief on the transitory road ahead is her high school Shadow Program mentor, Olivia (Robinson).

Movie

Eighth Grade ***

thumbnail

Spend the last week of grade school with Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), a straight-out nongregarious teen who uses earbuds to muffle the monotony brought forth by her doting dad (Josh Hamilton), fidgets her way through starting a daily PMA video blog, and joins her classmates under their desks for an Active-shooter drill. The latter is worth mentioning, since it’s the first on film that, thankfully, isn’t here to foreshadow the outcome. Heather Matarazzo’s Dawn Wiener in <em>Welcome to the Dollhouse</em> set the gold standard for this type of painfully awkward teen-in-transition, but Fisher’s performance is nothing short of cringeworthy (high praise in this case). Still, the real delight is Hamilton’s equally ungainly dad, who grows up faster than any of the kids in the picture. Writer/director Bo Burnham ratchets up the mean-spiritedness a bit by scrutinizing every one of his star’s teenager’s imperfections, highlighting rolls of back-fat and using an 85mm lens to scan every inch of her acne-ravaged face more painstakingly than a lunar rover.

Find showtimes

This picture is bound to be remembered come Awards season. You're going to wind up seeing it as is, so avoid the Christmas congestion and spend this Saturday night questioning a pair of bright Hollywood hopefuls in air-cooled comfort.

The following are start times for showings on Saturday, July 28. Elsie and Emily will appear at the tail-end of each screening for a post-show Q&A.

5:15 pm: Landmark Hillcrest

7 pm: AMC La Jolla

8:45 PM: Cinepolis Del Mar

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Relive 8th grade with Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson.
Relive 8th grade with Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson.

As if an opportunity to relive the last hellish week of grade school weren't enough, the two star students of Eighth Grade will be in town this weekend to celebrate the film's opening.

Video:

Trailer for Eighth Grade

If your knowledge of Elsie Fisher's work is limited to precocious little Agnes in the Despicable Me franchise, here's your chance to match the voice to the face. Emily Robinson fans are sure to remember her numerous bits on SNL as well as her work as Young Rose on Transparent.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Fisher stars as Kayla, the 13-year-old soon-to-be-graduate whose life is in mid-meltdown. The only visible sign of relief on the transitory road ahead is her high school Shadow Program mentor, Olivia (Robinson).

Movie

Eighth Grade ***

thumbnail

Spend the last week of grade school with Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), a straight-out nongregarious teen who uses earbuds to muffle the monotony brought forth by her doting dad (Josh Hamilton), fidgets her way through starting a daily PMA video blog, and joins her classmates under their desks for an Active-shooter drill. The latter is worth mentioning, since it’s the first on film that, thankfully, isn’t here to foreshadow the outcome. Heather Matarazzo’s Dawn Wiener in <em>Welcome to the Dollhouse</em> set the gold standard for this type of painfully awkward teen-in-transition, but Fisher’s performance is nothing short of cringeworthy (high praise in this case). Still, the real delight is Hamilton’s equally ungainly dad, who grows up faster than any of the kids in the picture. Writer/director Bo Burnham ratchets up the mean-spiritedness a bit by scrutinizing every one of his star’s teenager’s imperfections, highlighting rolls of back-fat and using an 85mm lens to scan every inch of her acne-ravaged face more painstakingly than a lunar rover.

Find showtimes

This picture is bound to be remembered come Awards season. You're going to wind up seeing it as is, so avoid the Christmas congestion and spend this Saturday night questioning a pair of bright Hollywood hopefuls in air-cooled comfort.

The following are start times for showings on Saturday, July 28. Elsie and Emily will appear at the tail-end of each screening for a post-show Q&A.

5:15 pm: Landmark Hillcrest

7 pm: AMC La Jolla

8:45 PM: Cinepolis Del Mar

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Here's something you might be interested in.
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San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
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