159. Mid 90s; movie review

MID 90S
Cert 15
85 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, drug misuse, self-harm, violence

Do you remember the days when skateparks were popping up all over the place, with floppy-haired young people practising tricks instead of playing good old-fashioned football and cricket?
Jonah Hill has captured the 1990s zeitgeist with a skater boy movie which will resonate both with those who grew up in the 90s and those who have parented teenagers.
It centres on 12-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic) who is desperate to find solace from a home in which he is bullied by his elder brother (Lucas Hedges) while his mother (Katherine Waterston) is struggling with single-parenthood,
Stevie hangs around a group of skateboarders and dreams of being what he sees as "cool".
Thus, he is beaming with delight when the gang's youngest participant (Gio Galicia) takes him in, bragging about smoking and girls.
After pushing his own physical boundaries, he is accepted by the older boys who admire his pluck.
However, he knows that their defiance of convention or even the law is likely to play very badly with his mum.
Suljic is excellent in the lead role, always with a smile on his face as he tries to find his place in the world.
Hill has also pitched his mum and brother excellently - both also lost in the individual ways.
And the detail of the 1990s is well played out with and soundtrack which took us back 20 years but is still vibrant today.
I can't say that the skateboard theme resonated heavily because the craze didn't make much of an impact on our children.
However, there were often conversations over who we considered to be the wrong and the right crowds with whom they should hang out.
Mid 90s demonstrates that the book should not always be judged by its cover and young people have to make their own mistakes.

Reasons to watch: An original and engaging take on growing up
Reasons to avoid: A tad repetitive

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? By 2001 skateboarding had gained so much popularity that, in the United States, more people under the age of 18 rode skateboards (10.6 million) than played baseball (8.2 million), although traditional organised team sports still dominated youth programs overall.

The final word. Jonah Hill: “The whole movie is an animal kingdom movie, you know? It’s really about this kid, this little cub, manoeuvring his way through the animal kingdom.”

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