Mid90s
A24 | Release Date: October 19, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
14
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansApr 15, 2019
The attempts at authentic stoner dialogue soon become tedious, with too little plot or character development grounding the inanity (Hill’s self-written script also features an eyebrow-raising overuse of the N-word). Read full review
40
CineVueNick HiltonApr 12, 2019
In the end, Mid90s is harmless and, at times, funny and charmingly nostalgic. But unless you’ve spent the last 25 years lamenting the loss of VHS, Super Nintendo and Nirvana – or are a manic Katherine Waterston completist – then there’s no real need to see this film. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 12, 2019
I enjoyed it more when Hill showed a lighter touch. Read full review
55
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsNov 1, 2018
What works best about Mid90s is what’s casual about it—but what makes it verge on being genuinely original is all the weirdo stuff at the margins, which is too pronounced to be subtext and too minimally handled to really mean something to the movie. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleOct 31, 2018
A pair of other recent films — “Minding the Gap,” ″Skate Kitchen” — better explored the camaraderie and freedom of skater culture. But there are glimpses here of a more radiant, lyrical film. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 26, 2018
Vivid in bits and pieces, Mid90s feels like a research scrapbook for a movie, not a movie. The more Hill throws you around in the name of creating a harsh, immediate impression, the more the impressions blur. Read full review
40
SlateSam AdamsOct 25, 2018
It certainly doesn’t work in Mid90s’ favor that it is the third movie released in the past two months to focus on an outsider with a turbulent home life seeking out community in the world of skateboarding. Even without the unflinching documentary "Minding the Gap" and the sure-handed docufiction "Skate Kitchen," Mid90s would feel phony, but the former’s understated and thoughtful treatment of its protagonists’ real-life tragedies contrasts sharply with Hill’s attempts to wring pathos from his manufactured ones. Next to them, Mid90s just looks like a poser. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOct 19, 2018
The not-so-good news is that Mid90s never quite manages to make an impact, in part because it gives us so little to hang onto with the characters onscreen. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfOct 18, 2018
The movie is nostalgia, pure and simple, unfettered by examination. Even its title is fuzzy and vague. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangOct 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
40
The GuardianJordan HoffmanOct 18, 2018
There are scenes that snap together nicely with some sharp and nuanced observations. But the film is saddled with uninteresting surface-level characters. There’s a phoniness exuding from the entire project, made all the more discouraging since the plot-light, shaggy dog story is trying to feel so real. Read full review
55
The AtlanticDavid SimsOct 17, 2018
In its quietest scenes, Mid90s feels a little more authentic, and Hill may well turn out to have a growing talent for directing. But he needs to match his subtler insights to a script that feels less derivative. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushBritt HayesSep 26, 2018
Unfortunately, Mid90s isn’t anything you haven’t already seen numerous times before. Read full review
50
The PlaylistJason BaileySep 11, 2018
Hill’s basically remaking Larry Clark’s seminal 1995 film “Kids,” a picture inherently more authentic because it was a snapshot taken in that moment. And if you prefer the rose-colored lens of nostalgia, that’s been done too, in Jonathan Levine’s 2008 effort “The Wackness.” Read full review
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