Booksmart: Film Review

Synopsis

Booksmart follows to bookworm best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever).  Valedictorian and Salutatorian, respectively, Molly and Amy spent their entire high school career focused on getting grades. However, they are painfully made aware that the dumb partying kids also got into good schools. So, they realize that they must cram 4 years of fun into one night, the night before graduation.

Review

Let me start by sying that this film is SO F***ING FUNNY ( "Was that Cardi B?" has got to be one of the funniest lines I've ever heard, with context, of course). This film is smart, clever, and confident. It knows what it wants to be and it doesn't shy away from anything. It's a fresh take on the coming of age story, with great central messages relating to body-positivity and self-confidence. It is a real and accurate portrayal of high schoolers (yes, profanity and sex jokes included), even though the actors are obviously older than 18. Also, there are strong directorial choices made throughout the film that enhance the new-ness of the film (mixing live-action and stop-motion and great camera work for a start). Throughout the film, there is great character development. Every main charcter seems to have a complete story arc and the script and direction allow the viewer to care about the characters. I particularly liked how the two main characters ended up in the story. It invokes common stereotypes about high schoolers for purposes of the plot, which is odd because the film's lead are so hell-bent on breaking stereotypes (for women specifically). The acting is very strong throughout (Make way for the comedy duo of Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein). Feldstein, I thought, was the standout performance in this film. As an aside, Feldstein is actually the younger sister of actor Jonah Hill, and with this film almost being the female Superbad (2007), I think that it's fitting that she stars in this film. This film is also suprisingly heartfelt at times. However, while it ultimately works out, the more dramatic parts seem forced in and abrupt. Nonetheless, this film is genuinely one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a while. As another aside (I need to switch up my phraseology), this is Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut. She killed it and I’m excited to see what she’s got next.