Mid90s

Growing up during a time period can be a fascinating environment for the coming of age subgenre. Many of these vary in quality but can get tiresome after a while of watching teenagers submit to underage drinking, smoking, and pondering upon their troubles that they feel are enormous in their young lives. Strong talent behind the camera helps remedy the tedious familiar formula through solid direction and good script writing, which brings us to Mid90s, another entry in this field but with a directorial debut of experienced actor Jonah Hill. This popped up on my radar when I saw the trailer for it, which included involvement from one of my favorite studios A24. I was intrigued by what was shown and that it was the feature film debut for Jonah in a project he wrote the script for. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and was publicly released in theaters in October. Critics gave it a positive reviews but it feels like it is going unnoticed by the holiday blockbusters. I entered the auditorium ready to see if it deserved to be overlooked and left liking what it was aiming for.

Plot: The story follows a young lonely troubled teenager who forms a bond with a group of skaters and adopts their mannerisms to cope with his problems. The best showing of the message this movie is aiming for is the entire middle chunk where the energy livens up and moves forward with the development of the lead protagonist. While the first act its standard job of setting up the visual exposition regarding its characters, it carries a somewhat dull tone until the other kids get into the picture, which feels intentional. The chemistry between these actors and the way they playoff one another helps drive solid entertainment. The activities our protagonist are what you would expect someone with his mindset would get involved with (for better or worse) and it's effect on him is not surprising but fascinating to watch.

The biggest problem holding back the story is how short and brief it is to the point where it feels like Jonah Hill restrained himself with the script to keep it simple and focus more on the directing. There are opportunities that could have been explored further with how particular actions would affect how these kids feel about them. A noticeable cliche that becomes a weakness for the third act is how it follows every coming of age story narrative. It adds elements where it feels kinda forced with an exposition moment along with a weirdly edited sequence. That ending aspect hurts this film by feeling rushed and cookie cutter as opposed to exploring these protagonists even further.

Characters: The people to focus on are Steve (Sunny Suljic) and Ian (Lucas Hedges). Steve is a naive 13 year old striving to fit in with a group of friends. Sunny gives a great leading performance where his range is put to the test in a variety of emotions in stages where young teens are struggling to find stability for themselves. Ian is Steve's abusive older brother whose actions are motivated by tension between the two. Lucas gives a solid intimidating portrayal in his mannerisms and the delivery of some emotional vulnerability. Honorable mentions go to Olan Prenatt and Na-Kel Smith for their engaging charismatic acting chops as key members of the skaters group.

Overall Consensus: Mid90s thrives from its strong performances, character interactions, a familiar but interesting premise, and solid direction, despite the short running time and third act problems. ⭑⭑⭑1/2💻 Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You like coming of age films being familiar predictable. You want to see debut features from actors turned directors.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You are annoyed with coming of age films being familiar predictable. You don't want to see debut features from actors turned directors.