a review of

What a smart, empathetic film this is. It is saturated with cringe, but that is sort of the point, with teenage actors as teenagers running lines in order to make it through auditions in their imaginations, or dealing with unwelcome realities. We also get to see adults doing much the same thing. I didn't have a terrible time in eighth grade, but I know it's usually been a difficult time for most US students and I think this film is going to stick around for a long time reminding audiences of what it was like in the late 2010s.