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Stars: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Alexa Demie, Fig Camila Abner, Liana Perlich, Ama Elsesser, Judah Estrella Borunda, Mecca Allen | Written and Directed by Jonah Hill

In 1990s Los Angeles, 13-year-old Stevie escapes his turbulent home life by hanging out with a new group of friends he meets at a local skate shop, plunging him into a world of fun, danger and excitement.

Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s is an artistic and entertaining romp. Perfectly stylised and thematically engaging as the personification of the decade in which it is set, with magnetic aptitude. The issues lie within the content provided which is the epitome of shallow and hollow, aside from the energy provided in a majestic score and absurdly beautiful framing in the cinematography from Christopher Blauvelt.

The exploration of teenage rebellion, while not necessarily fresh nor unique, serves...

Chicago – Character actor Jonah Hill has just scored behind the camera. As writer/director of a authentic look back at the “Mid90s” he went back to his inner source of growing up in that 1990s time, skateboarding with his buds and experiencing the teenage life. The story never blinks, as the teens are authentic and the situations they get in even more so.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

In a recent interview, Jonah Hill said that this film became his “best friend.” And in that sense we experience his joy in each frame. Hill cast it right, he approached it right and even in the harshest moments in the film were honestly right. The lead boy, portrayed by Sunny Suljic (“The House with the Clock in Its Walls”), amazingly takes on the innocence of desire in wanting to belong, and then growing up through that opportunity. The young actors portraying the skateboard buddies are also naturalistic,...

If you walked blindly into any part of Mid90s – that is without knowing anything about it, and especially not its title – it would take no more than two minutes for you to realize where and when you are. From the opening scene in a room lined with Air Jordans and CD racks, to the background beats of 2Pac and N.W.A, there’s no point in Jonah Hill’s directorial debut that feels out of touch with the times it honors. On paper, those times weren’t too long ago, but as Hill’s almost obsessive attention to detail turn certain kinds of shoes and socks, music, and video games into artifacts, Mid90s becomes less of a visitation, and more of a transportation into this awkward era.

And awkward it is. Or at least awkward it has become. Cringe-worthy slang, grooming, and clothing styles encompass the world 13-year-old...

Whether you grew up in the city or the country, you probably hung out with a group of similarly aged kids. You usually played games, explored, and occasionally got into a bit of mischief. The movies exploited that sensing of bonding and belonging nearly a hundred years ago when slapstick king Hal Roach created and produced the long-running series of short comedies called “Our Gang” (when they were sold to TV in the 50’s they were packaged under a new title “The Little Rascals: since teen gangs were the stuff of parental nightmares). In the late 1930’s, the “Dead End Kids were “B” movie staples right into the 50’s when they morphed into “The Bowery Boys”. More recently filmmakers have used the multi-kid format usually in a nostalgic setting. The 50’s were the backdrop for The Lords Of Flatbush and The Wanderers, the next decade had American Graffiti and The Sandlot.

Jonah Hill makes his feature film directorial debut with the coming of age drama, Mid90s. It is a period tale of a lonely thirteen-year-old boy who finds acceptance in a group of skateboarders. The film waxes nostalgic for the era, but is disappointingly one-note in its development of the characters. We get the themes of drug use, sexual exploration, and belonging. The delivery is just rote; amateurish in style and substance. The child actors are engaging to a degree, but Mid90s is not an impactful story.

Sunny Suljic stars as Stevie, a quiet Los Angeles kid trying to find himself. He's pummelled daily by his abusive and demeaning older brother, Ian (Lucas Hedges). Their single mother (Katherine Waterston) is largely absent, focusing her attention on a fleeting boyfriend. Stevie observes a group of skateboarders who hang around the local skate shop. He yearns to be a part of them,...

Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is an homage so faithful to its titular era, you’d be hard-pressed to pinpoint the year in which it was actually made. The giveaway, though, is in the intense sense of nostalgia that suffuses every frame of “Mid90s.”

Hill, currently starring in Netflix’s “Maniac,” was 13 in 1996, the same age as his protagonist, Stevie, who’s struggling to make sense of his unhappy life. His older brother, Ian, has a lot of rage issues, most of which he takes out on Stevie in violent fashion. And his young single mom, Dabney, is just trying to hold things together.

Facing down a summer with nothing to do and no one to do it with, Stevie finds a new family among the teens who hang out at a nearby L.A. skate shop. Ray (Na-kel Smith) works there, but he seems to be the only...

Jonah Hill doesn’t appear in a single scene of Mid90s, but you can feel his presence in every scene of this comedy spiked with touching gravity. Making his directing debut with a script he wrote himself, Hill shapes this coming-of-age tale like a European art film (think Francois Truffaut’s 400 Blows), letting atmosphere, character and glimmers of feeling take precedence over narrative thrust. The technique may put off fans expecting a raucous take on Superbad or 21 Jump Street and its sequel, both of which Hill cowrote. But...

Sunny Suljic and Na-kel Smith in Jonah Hill's Mid90s

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has just announced a sneak preview of Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s to be screened at the 56th New York Film Festival. The film stars Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston (Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice) and Lucas Hedges (Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester By The Sea) with Ryder McLaughlin, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, and Na-kel Smith.

Jonah Hill's Mid90s has a sneak preview at the 56th New York Film Festival Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The Film Society of Lincoln Center writes: "Jonah Hill’s directorial début is a frank, intimate, and emotionally layered reflection on an unlikely coming-of-age in the world of Nineties La skate culture. 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic), growing up with a loving but largely absent mother (Katherine Waterston) and a resentful brother (Lucas Hedges), seeks refuge with older kids...

The summer between middle school and high school is a formative one for any kid. There’s this sense of moving away from childhood and towards young adulthood — of needing to act older to fit in considering the pecking order has restarted with you down at the bottom. Factor in a sibling who’s already gone through this transition (living to remind you of this fact with his penchant for brutal abuse you’re too naïve to realize is his own insecurity seeking an easy target to work out aggression) and your desire to evolve becomes that much more potent. Now is the time to be cool. Throw away those Tmnt bed sheets and reinvent yourself as a skateboarder despite knowing nothing about how to begin riding. Image proves everything.

This is the point in which first-time feature film director Jonah Hill introduces his thirteen-year-old lead Stevie (Sunny Suljic). Well,...

“Mid90s” is the kind of movie so familiar it’s practically over before it begins. The affable story of scrawny L.A. 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljit) coming of age in the eponymous era follows all the familiar beats of this well-trod genre. However, the first feature from writer-director Jonah Hill shows some of the best qualities of veteran actors who step behind the camera, with nuanced performances so real the characters practically fall off the screen. Hill’s story suggests equal parts “Freaks and Geeks,” “Kids,” and the adolescent-focused narratives of British director Shane Meadows, but Hill cribs from these precedents with a confidence that injects this lively snapshot of skateboarding reprobates with fresh confidence.

It’s also a gleeful nostalgia trip. With a period-specific soundtrack that ranges from the Pixies to Wu-Tang Clan, “Mid90s” depicts the last decade of the 20th century with a warm hug. It...

Back in March of 2016 it was reported that Jonah Hill was going to direct his first film titled Mid90s. The movie is set to premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival and will open everywhere in October. While that news is exciting enough on its own, it has now been officially announced that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross scored the film. The duo last worked on Ken Burns' documentary series The Vietnam War in 2017, along with various other projects, and have been hard at work slowly releasing new Nine Inch Nails material throughout the last year-and-a-half.

Mid90s follows Stevie, a thirteen-year old in 90s era La, who spends his summer getting away from his troubled home life, escaping an abusive older brother. Stevie finds a group of new friends that he meets at a Motor Avenue skate shop. The film stars Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith,...