Mid90s

Name: Mid90s
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: October 19, 2018
Duration: 85 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Alexa Demie, Cici Lau, Di Vinci SanTana Guthrie, Fig Camila Abner, Gio Galicia

2018

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Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 103 Ratings

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7.5

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 103 Ratings

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Mid90s

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Movie Details & Credits

A24 | Release Date: October 19, 2018 | R

Starring: Alexa Demie, Cici Lau, Di Vinci SanTana Guthrie, Fig Camila Abner, Gio Galicia, Jax Malcolm, Jerrod Carmichael, Kasey Elise, Katherine Waterston, Lauren B. Mosley, Liana Perlich, Lucas Hedges, Margaret Newborn, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Ryder McLaughlin, Stephane Nicoli, Sunny Suljic

Summary: Mid 90s follows Stevie, a thirteen-year-old in 90s-era LA who spends his summer navigating between his troubled home life and a group of new friends that he meets at a Motor Avenue skate shop.

Director: Jonah Hill

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 85 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Critic Reviews

Leah Greenblatt

Oct 10, 2018

He (Hill) makes Mid90s resonate with universal poignancy and electric energy; his kids are the best, messiest kind of real, and they’re alright. Read full review

John DeFore

Sep 11, 2018

A gender-flipped sibling to Crystal Moselle's Skate Kitchen (set in Los Angeles versus that film's NYC), its narrative of sudden belonging and onrushing perils mirrors that Sundance entry. But in emotional punch and shoulda-seen-this-coming skill, it is more like Hill's Lady Bird, a gem that feels simultaneously informed by its author's adolescence and the product of a serious artist's observational distance. Read full review

Kerry Lengel

Oct 25, 2018

Hill isn’t offering a sociological treatise. Mid90s is all about lived experience. It’s about a place and a time and offers little inkling of its characters’ futures. Read full review

The Film Stage Jared Mobarak

Sep 13, 2018

It’s as though Hill wrote a much longer script and decided to ultimately pare everything down without realizing just how hollow he was rendering supporting players in the process. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Oct 22, 2018

Mid90s becomes, in full flower, a movie with characters more interesting or unusual than its very conventional story and setting, not a bad film so much as an incomplete one. Read full review

Justin Chang

Oct 18, 2018

Mid90s possesses just enough sensitivity and feeling to make you wish it had more. Hill’s script aims for, and often achieves, a fleeting, fragmentary portrait of group dynamics, but it’s stymied in its attempts to distinguish Stevie’s pals as individuals rather than types. Read full review

Jake Cole

Sep 13, 2018

Jonah Hill constantly falls back on providing vague justification for his characters' behaviors, along with spoonfuls of sentiment to let the more dour moments go down easier. Read full review

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User Reviews

rooooooooo

Nov 6, 2018

It perfectly summed up what it was like to be a skater as a teenager. the soundtrack was dope, the characters felt... real. it felt like the movie kids but if it kids had been focused solely on the skaters. there are people talking about how it wasn't cohesive or that it lacked structureIt perfectly summed up what it was like to be a skater as a teenager. the soundtrack was dope, the characters felt... real. it felt like the movie kids but if it kids had been focused solely on the skaters. there are people talking about how it wasn't cohesive or that it lacked structure and... i mean.. that's kind of the point. the film is about kids who aren't worried about their future and are just skating. why would there be more of a point if that's what the premise is? the anti-climatic ending also made sense... I like that the movie didn't force some bullsh*t ending or some stupid "moral of the story" wrap-up. maybe this was just me because that was more or less my exact 15 year old experience but whatever. as far as i'm concerned it perfectly nailed every aspect of what it was like… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Planetvibz

Dec 29, 2018

A beautifully nuanced film. It perfectly captures the adolescent biological urge to escape the numb, abhorrent vacuum that exists in the absence of nurturing role models. Anything that offers even a tenuous sense of belonging and acceptance is an intoxicating alternative, no matter theA beautifully nuanced film. It perfectly captures the adolescent biological urge to escape the numb, abhorrent vacuum that exists in the absence of nurturing role models. Anything that offers even a tenuous sense of belonging and acceptance is an intoxicating alternative, no matter the danger. Rather than be morally outraged by the events depicted, I suspect Jonah Hill would prefer the film goer left with a renewed incentive to be a nurturing role model in a society that is literally crying out for them.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

mthershey

Jun 28, 2019

This movie is a great trip back in time, with a uncanny amount of true to time detail. The movie being shot with 16mm film with a 4:3 ratio was just a cherry on top, and a nod to 90s skate culture respectively. The movie lacked an overall plot but that didn’t take too make away from thisThis movie is a great trip back in time, with a uncanny amount of true to time detail. The movie being shot with 16mm film with a 4:3 ratio was just a cherry on top, and a nod to 90s skate culture respectively. The movie lacked an overall plot but that didn’t take too make away from this film. Outstanding directing from Jonah Hill.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Rcavey92212

May 11, 2020

What an impressive debut by Jonah Hill. This slice of life drama is reminiscent of Kuds but not as horrifying. Set around a young boy desperate to fit on with someone and pushed away by his brother. He discovers skateboarding and a complex group of kids. He's introduced to drinking, sex andWhat an impressive debut by Jonah Hill. This slice of life drama is reminiscent of Kuds but not as horrifying. Set around a young boy desperate to fit on with someone and pushed away by his brother. He discovers skateboarding and a complex group of kids. He's introduced to drinking, sex and drugs in some truly disturbing scenes. The one flaw the film has is that it never really delves into the plight of its characters, never really fleshing them out fully. Still want stands is a truly intriguing period piece that feels very genuine. At times it can be a hard watch but it's well made with solid performances especially from Sunny Suljic in the lead and the always amazing Lucas Hedges.

Budget: $1.7m
Domestic Box Office: $7m
Worldwide Box Office: $9m

3.5/5… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

KeithDow

Oct 30, 2018

'Mid90s' is largely a reflection of first time writer/director Jonah Hill himself--smart, grounded, and oftentimes nostalgic. The film delves into the ubiquitous skate culture of the 1990's replete with all the trimmings, including Discmans, WWF buddy pillows, and Big Brother magazines.'Mid90s' is largely a reflection of first time writer/director Jonah Hill himself--smart, grounded, and oftentimes nostalgic. The film delves into the ubiquitous skate culture of the 1990's replete with all the trimmings, including Discmans, WWF buddy pillows, and Big Brother magazines. Hill took inspiration from other street culture movies that were actually made during the period in which this film is set, most notably Harmony Korine's 'Kids,' though 'Mid90s' is far less visceral and provocative, which is to be expected considering Korine presumably has a chapter written about him in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Though a handful of scenes would've played out better had Hill chosen a slightly older actor to play the lead, his camera work is top notch and the film picks up steam along the way, resulting in a pleasing and somewhat evocative debut.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

TVJerry

Oct 30, 2018

Sunny Suljic plays a 13-year-old who's desperate to fit in with an older group of skaters, while escaping the bullying of his brother (Lucas Hedge effective as a tough guy). Comparisons to Larry Clark's KIDS (which was actually made in the 90s) are inevitable. Writer/director Jonah HillSunny Suljic plays a 13-year-old who's desperate to fit in with an older group of skaters, while escaping the bullying of his brother (Lucas Hedge effective as a tough guy). Comparisons to Larry Clark's KIDS (which was actually made in the 90s) are inevitable. Writer/director Jonah Hill shot this in a 4:3 ratio to mimic the video standard of that time. It has the same kind of raw style that surrounds a cast of mostly real skaters, jiving, cussing and getting high. While there's not a plot as such, things happen and Suljic creates an earnest, sweet kid in search of friendship. The skaters are completely at home being themselves (or variations). It's a rambling, but genuine and interesting first effort.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

dchipps1945

Oct 28, 2018

Everyone who's ever been a 12-year-old boy has written this story in his head. This film plays like a pre-adolescent super-fantasy, including sexual encounters with hot teenage girls, enough substance abuse to knock out a horse (with no effects whatsoever), and accidents and mishaps thatEveryone who's ever been a 12-year-old boy has written this story in his head. This film plays like a pre-adolescent super-fantasy, including sexual encounters with hot teenage girls, enough substance abuse to knock out a horse (with no effects whatsoever), and accidents and mishaps that would kill the horse and the whole posse.

I get the impression this was an old screenplay Jonah Hill wrote in film school, and he could now produce (I have no idea whether Jonah Hill went to film school). It has events without consequences (the mishaps, substance abuse, and the film's great tragic event), resolutions without understandable cause (the character-transformation of the kid's brother and the final scene between the mom and the kid's friends), and situations without explanation (Just who owns the skateboard shop? Is there such a thing as school in this kid's life? Just how old is he supposed to be, anyway?).

I expected a sort of gritty-but-realistic portrayal of this life, not some squealing little kid's wet dream.… Expand

2 of 7 users found this helpful25

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