By John Corrado

Bo Burnham’s directorial debut, Eighth Grade, is one of the biggest breakout hits of the year. Built around a sensitive and incredibly authentic performance from Elsie Fisher, the film presents an engaging and at times painfully believable portrait of what it’s like to be a shy and awkward kid in middle school, that has been drawing praise since it premiered at Sundance in January.

The film is already a bit of a minor classic in the coming of age genre, and it seems poised to find even more of an audience now that it’s available on Blu-ray, especially since middle schoolers themselves are now free to watch it without being barred from theatres due to the needless restricted rating. It’s worth seeing, and you can read my full review of the film right here.

The Blu-ray also comes with a satisfying selection of bonus features, including a commentary track with Burnham and Fisher; the nicely assembled featurette You’re Not Alone: Life in Eighth Grade; a brief, psychedelic music video for “Nautilus”, one of the tracks from Anna Meredith’s memorable score; as well a selection of deleted scenes, which are mainly worth watching to see more of the delightfully awkward interactions between Fisher and Jake Ryan, who hilariously steals every one of his scenes.

Eighth Grade is an Elevation Pictures release. It’s 94 minutes and rated 14A.