YMMV / mid90s

• Awesome Music: "Gyöngyhajú lány" by Omega, as famously sampled by Kanye West in "New Slaves"^note  specifically pitched down to the way it appeared in the Kanye song, appears in the film's trailer.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The first time Stevie and the audience first come across his eventual group of friends, they're going over insanely messed up "Would You Rather?" scenarios, most notably asking whether they'd rather suck off their dad or eat out their mom. Ray is unsurprisingly disgusted by the idea, but Fuckshit takes it way too far by stating that he'd have to drug and rape one of his parents to do such a thing. Everyone is understandably disturbed while at the same time slightly amused.
• He Really Can Act: All of the skaters are marvelously played by first-time actors (all of whom are real skaters), with one of the most notably acclaimed roles being that of Na'Kel Smith as Stevie's cool and kind mentor figure Ray.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Ruben. He's a huge douchebag towards Stevie, but lives in poverty with an abusive mother.
  • Any of the main cast could count, as they’re all rude or disrespectful in one way or another but have hard enough lives that keep them sympathetic.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • When Ray gives Stevie a brand new board for free.
  • Later on, there's his talk with Stevie and showing how much he cares and seems to see Stevie as a surrogate little brother.
  • Proving they're true friends, they all wait in the hospital for Stevie and eventually keep him company in his room.
• Memetic Mutation: A popular fan-title given to this film is: "Kids: The West Coast Version."
• Narm: While the scene itself is tense and pretty disturbing, Ian throwing a childish tantrum after getting in a fight with Stevie can probably take some audience members out due to how comically sudden it occurs.
• Nightmare Fuel: Most of the movie will pretty much be this for parents, but some moments that stand out include:
  • Stevie failing the roof jump and landing right on his face. The impact causes his head to bleed profusely.
  • Stevie attempting to asphyxiate himself with the cord of a game controller.
  • Not one but two Jump Scares revealing a massive car accident that all the boys get in.
• Squick: The sex scene between Stevie and Estee (thankfully mostly off-screen). It was already questionable due to the characters' respective ages, but the fact that Sunny Suljic was around twelve at the time while Alexa Demie was more like twenty-six makes it really uncomfortable.
• The Woobie: Stevie, considering how he lives on the lower end of the economic ladder with a single mother who's implied to be rather promiscuous and a jerk of a Big Brother Bully and is just looking for somewhere to belong.