Movie Review: “Lars The Emo Kid” Is A Fresh Coming Of Age Story For Millennials

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Lars Hyde is depressed. He’s lost his best friend, he’s being bullied at school, his parents are divorcing… He is ready to give up. It takes a group of misfits to show him what real friendship is. Follow Lars as he tries to find his place in this dark, funny and ultimately uplifting teen coming of age tale.

Probably the most apt comparison to “Lars the Emo Kid” is “Napoleon Dynamite,” but this is hardly a retread. The dialog is witty and engaging, infused with intelligent humor throughout. Characters that seem to start out as airheads or obtuse bullies are later revealed to have substantial depth.

The story essentially begins with Lars’ half-hearted suicide attempts because of the death (by suicide) of his best friend. His parents are also separating. Lars and his parents live in upscale suburbia – what one might expect to be an ideal existence. Alas, that is not the case.

A strong undercurrent in the film is the reality that over the past hundred or so years, society has emphasized the “importance” skill acquisition for the purposes of gainful employment. “Lars the Emo Kid” seems to ask if we are just going through the motions within a socioeconomic structure that we don’t really understand. In essence, is there more to life than getting a job? With the ongoing rise of automation, the corresponding potential loss of jobs, as well as serious public policy proposals for a guaranteed basic income, these are fair questions.

There is one scene, for example, with Lars and the high school counselor, who dwells endlessly on SAT scores and the need to get a job. One can legitimately ask if that’s all there is to life. In one of Lars’ poems, he refers to the Abattoir, a slaughterhouse – in this case, a metaphor certainly for society, and perhaps for the environment. He writes, “Use what they can and throw the rest away.”

In another verse, Lars declares that he is crawling on his belly towards nothing. Finally, “We’re all headed to the same dead end: Adulthood.” In a consumer-driven society, it’s easy to forget that the real joy of living comes from social bonding, a sense of accomplishment, and the accumulation of knowledge and wisdom – not from the next paycheck or business deal.

“Lars the Emo Kid” is funny, touching and relevant to a generation coming along that may feel like they have lost their way. The message is that what young people are expected to aspire to might not be all it’s cracked up to be. Almost as if the filmmakers are channeling Thoreau with his observation that the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. The themes explored by “Lars” are familiar enough, but what makes it fresh is the acknowledgment that the context of each generation is always changing. In the end, as in life, each of us must find our own way.

Now available on Amazon Prime