MID90s
*CUT TO THE CHASE*
This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy
Los Angeles, 90's - 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic) endures constant abuse from his older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges). He spends most of his days alone in his room listening to music or trying to lift weights. The boys live with their single mother Dabney (Katherine Waterston), who is usually heard arguing loudly with Ian.
Stevie rides his bike around town and sees a group of skateboarders in front of Motor Avenue Skateshop. The boys are messing with a nearby shop owner, which Stevie finds amusing. He enters the shop where they work and overhears a weird conversation they are having on whether or not one of them would blow his dad or eat out his mom.
Stevie trades some video games with Ian for his old skateboard and goes back to the shop the next day. He hangs around and meets Ruben (Gio Galicia). He gives Stevie a cigarette, and the boy thanks him, but Ruben orders him not to thank him because it's "gay". He also tells Stevie he needs a new board because the one he has is too retro (it has a gator with shades), and he tells Stevie to bring $40 the next day to get a new board. Stevie later goes home to ask Ian for money, but he instead brings him to Dabney's room to take $80 so they can have $40 each. Stevie reluctantly grabs the money after Ian takes his own.
After getting a new board, Ruben introduces Stevie to the other guys - Ray (Na-kel Smith), Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt), and Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin). The boys sit around and ask each other questions regarding their different races. Fourth Grade asks Ray if black people can get sunburned, to which all the others respond with laughter. Ray asks Stevie his opinion, and he responds with, "What are black people?" The others laugh and start to give Stevie the nickname "Sunburn". However, Ruben starts to grow obviously jealous of the attention Stevie is getting.
The boys spend their time skating around areas like a courthouse, which gets them in trouble with the cops as they go after the other skaters there. In another instance, Ian comes across the group when Fuckshit accidentally hits him with his board. Fuckshit teases Ian in to doing something, but he only stares solemnly at Stevie. He later tells Stevie that his friends are losers and that he would have done something if he weren't alone.
Dabney questions her sons on the missing $80 and thinks it was Ian alone who took it, so she asks Stevie to confirm, and he says yes. Ian retaliates by punching Stevie hard in bed at night.
The group goes to skateboard on a rooftop. Ray and Fuckshit make good leaps over a gap, but Ruben chickens out when he is going up. Stevie goes for it, but doesn't move fast enough, and he falls through the gap and lands on a table below. The other guys run to help Stevie, who is bleeding from his head. He takes his shirt off and wraps it around his head, which gets soaked with blood. Ray makes Ruben take his shirt off to wrap around Stevie's head, and the others commend Stevie for being so bold. However, Dabney is displeased when he comes home shirtless and bloodied.
Stevie starts to smoke and drink with the group. The guys go to a party where Fuckshit gives them ritalin. At the party, Stevie meets Estee (Alexa Demie), who finds him to be naturally sweet and charming compared to the other guys. Estee takes Stevie to another room where they hook up. Stevie comes out of the house to find the guys cheering him on, and he describes the experience to them.
Stevie goes home later totally trashed. Ian starts to press him about his current state, and Stevie tells Ian that he's a loser with no friends. Ian chases Stevie around the house and hits him especially hard, giving him a black eye. Ian then breaks down screaming and crying while Stevie goes to his room to try and strangle himself with a video game control.
Dabney drags Stevie to the skateshop to confront the boys over them giving Stevie drugs and alcohol, as well as getting him injured. Fuckshit laughs her off, but Ray takes her words seriously. Stevie gets into a loud argument with his mother and swears at her non-stop.
Stevie sits outside the shop when Ray sits next to him. He tells Stevie that although he thinks his life sucks, he should look at others' lives to see that he wouldn't trade his life for theirs. Ray tells Stevie how all the guys in the group have personal issues. Fourth Grade's family is poor, Ruben's mother is an addict who abuses him and his sister, Fuckshit is out of control with his drinking and partying, and Ray lost his younger brother when he got hit by a car. He explains that although Fuckshit can be reckless, he dragged Ray out of his depression to start skating.
The boys gather for a party in the back of the shop. Estee and her friends are there, but she doesn't look happy to see Stevie drinking. Meanwhile, Ray is talking to skating sponsors since he would like to skate professionally, but a drunken Fuckshit goes to mess around, and Ray has to send him away and apologize to the other guys for Fuckshit's behavior. Ruben then antagonizes Stevie, leading to them fighting, with Stevie getting the most hits in until Ray pulls him off Ruben.
At night, the boys are all feeling like crap from what happened. Fuckshit wants to keep things going at a party even though the others just want to go home. Despite being clearly too drunk, he drives with Stevie in the passenger seat. Fourth Grade asks to pull over right before Fuckshit crashes and flips the car on its side. Stevie is knocked unconscious.
Stevie wakes up in the hospital to find Ian sitting right beside him. He hands his brother some orange juice. Outside, Dabney arrives and sees that the boys slept there overnight to wait to hear about Stevie. Touched by this, she allows them to visit Stevie. They go to his room and see that he has a broken arm. Ray tells Stevie that he takes hits better than anyone he knows. To ease the tension, Fourth Grade gets out his camera (he was recording his friends throughout their time together) and puts on a movie he made, titled "Mid90s". It features all the boys skating and having fun, ending with Stevie laughing.
