An artistic drama about the importance of friendship as a kid isn’t what you would expect to get from first time director Jonah Hill, but it’s a movie that probably hits home for most.

First time writer and director Jonah Hill mostly known for his rolls in “Super Bad” and “21 Jumpstreet”,decided to move off the camera for this film that he has envisioned years ago.

“Mid 90’s” follows the story of Stevie, a 13 year old in Los Angeles in the 1990s and how he discovers a group of friends that take him in. He was looking for friends who would take him in from his brother who constantly beats him and his young mom who acts more like a friend than a mom.

The group that takes Stevie in is a group of skaters who are much older than himself. He’s infatuated by how good they are at skating. Stevie tries learning to skate and through his time with them, he experiences life and sees the problems that everyone else experiences. This journey takes him to sketchy skate spots, parties, and shows him how to smoke and drink at a young age, but he enjoys all of it because he’s getting away from the family he hates being around.

There are strong performances from Sunny Suljic as Stevie and Lucas Hedges as his brother Ian, but what is surprising is the strong performances of Stevie’s group of friends. It’s surprising because Hill chose to use all real skaters to act in these roles, opposed to actors.

This is something that often doesn’t pay off well, but it did here. The most impressive performance was by Na-Kel Smith who played Ray. He conveys the importance of friendship and the other problems that took place in the area they lived in.

This film is shot in a way that it looks like you’re watching it on a YouTube and sounds like you’re back in the 1990s. A strong music collection helped portray the era properly.