Soleil Moon Frye became a household name at seven years old. As the star of Punky Brewster, she made her mark on TV history one witty retort and mismatched hightops combo at a time.
But while she was making fans laugh on camera, she developed a behind-the-camera personna of her own. Frye became known to her friends as the girl with the video camera. And now 20 years later, she’s broken into that “Pandora’s Box” of footage to create the documentary Kid 90.
The documentary combines old camcorder footage recorded by Frye in the 90s, and paints a picture of her life at that time. It’s full of notable celebrities, from Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Stephen Dorff, David Arquette, and Sarah Gilbert to Johnny Deep, Charlie Sheen, and Mario Lopez. Kid 90 also brings in some of Frye’s old friends to talk about their experiences in new interviews.
In Kid 90, Frye outlines some of the biggest moments of her post-Punky life, from talk show appearances, to her breast reduction, to her struggle to find her place in the entertainment industry – and life. The recorded footage, combined with the entries from Frye’s old diaries she reads outloud, gives Kid 90 a uniquely personal, intimate feel. If you’re someone who struggles to relate to celebrities, this documentary is definitely humanizing. You can’t help but feel closer to Frye as you dive into her past alongside her.
That said, Kid 90 definitely feels a bit…exclusive. Though perhaps not intentionally so. While it tries to emphasize universal feelings – coming-of-age confusion, friendship, grief, loss – the lens is hyper-specific to Frye. Often, Kid 90 doesn’t do a great job of catching up the viewer, taking more of a “if you know, you know” approach.
That’s a little isolating to viewers like me, who aren’t in the know (and are watching this documentary to try to be). It’s most glaring in the treatment of the many tragic deaths of Frye’s friends. The film seems to take it for granted that by saying their names, we’re going to know all of their stories – and be able to catch on to the ominous foreshadowing in the footage from their youth. Kid 90 would flash up images of news articles and then move on so quickly, I often found myself hovering over the pause button, just so I could skim enough from the image to get the necessary context.
While I did ultimately find Kid 90 compelling and I enjoyed learning more about Frye’s backstory, it doesn’t seem fair to bill this as “a look at young Hollywood stars growing up in the 1990s.” It’s pretty specific to Frye’s life and experiences. I don’t think this is a bad thing, but I do think it’s worth managing expectations for the viewer. You’re getting a retrospective on Frye, not an expansive look at the entertainment industry.
Kid 90 is streaming now on Hulu.