Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

Middle School is a treat for kids before they head back to their own classrooms.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is better than middling as it sidesteps the trap of simply pandering to its youthful demo with cheap laughs and silly mugging.

Channeling the spirit of John Hughes and playing like a tween version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life delivers an easily digestible and amusing portrait of youthful hijinks.

There are solid relationships and amusing jokes in Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, even if the film tries a bit too hard and stretches itself thin.

Throw in some tacked-on anti-standardized-tests speeches and a late-in-the-game reveal about a death in the family, and you've got a movie that's constantly zigging and zagging emotionally without a skilled hand at the wheel.

Unimaginatively directed and indifferently shot, the film never establishes a distinctive voice for itself.

...a fun romp for tweens with an important message for adults.

There was a surprising amount of heart in Middle School.

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is fluffy nonsense interspersed with moments of unsubtle emotion and occasional condescension.

Middle School is kind of a rare breed these days and while it could have been better it's still an entertaining film in many ways.