Mid90s: Film Review
I have been a fan of Jonah Hill‘s acting work for a long time so naturally, I was keen to check out his directorial debut Mid90s – and it pains me to say that I wasn’t a fan of it at all.
The film follows the life of Stevie (Sunny Suljic), who learns to skateboard and becomes friends with an older group of boys – Ray (Na-Kel Smith), Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin), Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt) and Ruben (Gio Galicia)- who are a bad influence. They give him booze, cigarettes and drugs which he uses to escape his home life, with an older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges), who regularly beats him up, and mother Dabney (Katherine Waterston), who always has a new man around the house.
I know a film doesn’t have to be made with the purpose of entertaining viewers, but this really bummed me out. It’s super sad and depressing and some scenes made me feel uncomfortable, watching this young boy get drunk and do stuff with girls. That was tough to watch. Some films are depressing but you still like them for other reasons but I didn’t really care for Mid90s at all. I really hated how horrible everyone was to each other – so much shouting – and the volume of music was all over the place, sometimes feeling quite loud and brash.
Sunjic is a good actor but it was hard to see his character doing this stuff to himself. I’m not sure how old he was – in reality, he’s 13 – but it made me uncomfortable. Out of the boys I only liked Ray because he actually has his head on his shoulders and takes skateboarding seriously. He isn’t about the partying lifestyle and tries to help Stevie see that. Hedges was completely different as this tough brother with a chain and both ears pierced (gave me Eminem vibes!) and Waterston is fine as the despairing mother but grrr she should do better.
The way it was shot looked cool and the script, setting, and music felt very realistic and authentic. I believe Hill has a vision but I just didn’t like the story at all. I don’t know what I expected from Hill but this wasn’t it!
In selected cinemas from Friday 12th April