Mid90s

I was a little nervous when I read that Jonah Hill was writing and directing a skateboarder drama. Being a skateboarder myself all my life, I really focused on how this movie was. Was it gonna be a wacky comedy or something serious? I walked out of the movie theatre with a massive smile on my face! This movie had the perfect tone to it. You really do feel for the characters and you really feel for Stevie. Growing up a skater, I really related to Stevie in the movie. while it focuses on a little kid becoming a skateboarder, it also deals with a lot of real life problems. Future, health, how hard some people's lives are. And this movie portrayed that beautifully! Hat tipped to Jonah hill! This is a must see not just for skateboarders for for everybody!

This movie was the 90's skate scene to a T. The music, a mix of punk, indie and hip hop, the clothes, baggy pants and 2XL tees, drugs, underage drinking, and of course street skating. If you were there, you know, if not you can experience a time that will never come back. Skating is not the outlaw thing you do to escape your sh!tty life anymore, it's city built skateparks and X games. That's why this film hits hard. Everyone who was around then had their crew and every crew had the jokester, the pro, the poor kid and the hanger-on who wasn't really good but a nice dude so you kept him. That's what Stevie is in this film and that's why you feel for him. Jonah Hill has made an authentic time capsule into the mid 90's that feels real and not forced.

Aside from a couple minor issues I had with this film, I loved it. It just felt incredibly real. I didn't feel like I was watching actors. I felt like I was watching the lives of these kids unfold, and that those lives would just continue unfolding even when the camera wasn't rolling.

The reason I wanted to check this film out was because of Jonah Hill. It's interesting to see actors give a shot at directing, writing or even both and for a first feature, Hill doesn't disappoint.

Mid90s follows Stevie, a young kid with a troubled family life, and finds a group of friends at a skate shop during the... mid 90s obviously.

If there is one thing that's executed extremely well, then it's the authentic feeling of the 90s when you watch it. The film has 4:3 aspect ratio and revolves around skateboarding, teenagers, drugs and many more aspects which attribute to the 90s feeling. This film is clearly very personal to Jonah Hill because of how realistic it looks. I really liked the music choices since it amplified the 90s atmosphere even more. It's blatantly targeted towards people from that time period and I'm sure that group of people will find this movie extremely nostalgic. Hill's script is very enjoyable and quite humourous at times. The characters were really fun to watch and what made them believable were the performances by the actors.

Sunny Suljic did an incredible job especially as a child performer. He had a lot of range in his acting and played the role to the best of his ability. Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia and Ryder McLaughlin all gave terrific performances especially considering that fact that all of them haven't acted much before this. Even Lucas Hedges did well as I thought he suited the role.

Whilst watching the movie, it reminded me a lot of Larry Clark's KIDS and I'm sure that film was a huge inspiration to Jonah Hill but it kind of made Mid90s lose some of its originality. Also towards the end, the editing became messy. There was a scene that included somewhat of a jumpscare that I didn't like at all.

Mid90s is nowhere near flawless but I respect the amount of work Jonah Hill put into his directorial debut. It's a fun, nostalgic and personal trip coming from someone who's lived through that time and wants to share his love for that period to everyone.

When I first saw the trailer for this movie months back it was hard to not see some similarities from Larry Clark's teenage slice of life movies from the late 90s and early 2000s. Once I saw the movie I was pleased to see while some parts may be influenced by Clark, the Mid 90s stands on its own as true winner.

Much like Clark did, Hill has brought in some kids who have no acting experience here to play Stevie's crew. They all really knock it out of the park and add to the sense of realism. The film is short and sweet setting up the main points quickly and then taking some great turns, some of which are a bit dark. I was a big fan of Lucas Hedge's character and how the dynamic of him and Stevie plays out. The soundtrack also is really quite amazing and adds a lot to the film in some scenes. Also Mid 90's may have the best jump scare of the year!

Some people may complain that while the film does have good characters, setting and so on, it lacks a standard plot. While this is true I'd argue that it sets out to tell the story of Stevie in a realistic fashion and gets the job done. While Mid 90s does have some shortcomings like some cliches and some heavy predictability, I didn't feel like they hindered the film much. A strong 8/10.