Film: 'mid90s'

L.A., in the film title's decade (though it might as well have been contemporary as far as I could see) this mercifully short (85 mins) film, shot in square-frame ratio, takes a slice of the life of 13 year-old, but looking younger, skateboarding fanatic Sunny Suljic (bottom right in pic) as he rebels against his family (incl. Lucas Hedges as his bullying older brother - a small role though he gets second billing - and Katherine Waterston, the concerned mother). We see him befriending a small gang of street kids united in a craze for their recreation. and being inculcated in the ways that is considered de rigueur for those of their generation - smoking (not just tobacco), drinking and pill-popping, their language peppered with 'f' this and 'f' that, where approval is expressed as being as 'cool' and the go-to words for a put-down are 'fag/faggot' or simply 'gay'. The 'n' word is also liberally employed by all and sundry in a neutral sense. 

Although the film does have a strong focus in the young kid's involvement as he moves beyond his family's expectations on how to behave it's also somewhat meandering and episodic - and, for me, not really that interesting. There's a small number of violent scenes, both intentional and accidental, though a film I'll have forgotten by tomorrow.

Jonah Hill, mid-30s, is himself a Los Angeles born and has appeared as actor in some 60 films, this being his first feature film as director, and drawing on his own growing-up experiences. I will commend him, though, for one aspect of this - namely that it wasn't longer..............3.5.  

(IMDb..........7.4 / Rott.Toms..............7.1 )