"Mid90s" is a lackluster directorial debut full of sophomoric humor and failed attempts to tell the stories of many individual characters. It starts strong but loses momentum as it drags along with each scene making the viewer more uncomfortable until the ending that leaves several subplots unfulfilled and many questions unanswered.

Many have likened "Mid90s" to recent films such as "Ladybird" and "Eighth Grade," both directorial debuts for Greta Gerwig and Bo Burnham respectively, but in precisely the areas that those films excelled are where "Mid90s" finds it's shortcomings. Both of the aforementioned films attempted to tell the realistic coming of age stories of two girls at a similar age, one about to move from middle school into high school and the other about to graduate high school and head to college. "Mid90s" does not attempt to show any great transition in its protagonist's life. "Ladybird" also had a semi-autobiographical element as Gerwig said many times that it was based loosely on the events of her teenage years. It instead tries to showcase, what the viewer can assume, is the adolescence that director Jonah Hill wishes he had.

Protagonist Stevie, played by Sunny Suljic, is a scrawny 13-year-old who wants to fit in with a group of skaters who are for the most part much older than him. He is pressured into taking drugs and other nefarious activities to gain acceptance among the group. I mean this kid, who can weigh no more than 70 pounds, smoked copious amounts of marijuana, took a pill that was assumed to be Adderall, and drank an entire 40-ounce bottle of beer in a few hours and was still standing. Many of his experiences that should have changed his opinion on the people he was associating with, and in all honesty should have traumatized him as well, seem only to strengthen his relationship with his destructive friend group.

Finally, the writing for the whole film was just lazy. From the protagonist's relationship with his brother being symbolized through orange juice to the way that he uncharacteristically can forgive many of his friends for things that would probably end any normal friendship, there were just too many subplots that were insignificant or left unresolved. In my opinion, it is worth the watch, but know that you will probably come away disappointed.