Review of movie Mid90s

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Rating:3/5

At times, Jonah Hill’s directorial debut “Mid90s” feels like a studious attempt in not screwing up an opportunity. Following the coming-of-age of shy observer Stevie (Sunny Suljic) as he befriends a group of skaters—leader Ray (Na-Kel Smith), party animal Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt), bottom-of-the-pecking order Ruben (Gio Galicia), and filmmaker Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin)—“Mid90s” is a solid film that frequently tries too hard to be modest and unassuming. Hill wants to evoke the laidback style of Larry Clark’s "Kids," as tied with the contained formalism of early Scorsese, but it often comes across as a belabored attempt to capture the meandering, aimless nature of hanging out. When “Mid90s” eventually tries to tie up the loose ends previously designed to remain loose, you can see the clumsy attempts to conceal the seams that keep Hill’s film together.