BOOKSMART:
OLIVIA WILDE’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT IS GENUINELY FANTASTIC AND LOADED WITH NON-STOP LAUGHS!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: **** out of 4
ANNAPURNA PICTURES
A little late but whatever, it’s time for me to talk about Booksmart, the directorial debut of Olivia Wilde (House, Tron: Legacy, Drinking Buddies). At first glance Booksmart looks like a female remake of the 2007 comedy hit Superbad, think about it you got two social outcasts in high school trying to go to a party the night before graduation and all the wacky shenanigans that occur while getting there.
This is not a new premise for a comedy and there have been plenty of copycats out there, but the Superbad comparisons immediately stopped as soon as the movie began. Booksmart takes this simple and familiar premise and adds a smart, new spin to the coming-of-age genre resulting in an outrageous and genuinely fantastic comedy.
From the charm of its leads, the colorful cast of memorable characters, and the balance between raunchy comedy and deep emotional moments, I adored every minute of this movie and laughing all the way through. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had in a theater all year and I’m not kidding here, the best film I’ve seen this year so far.
After Avengers: Endgame, John Wick: Chapter 3, and even Us, a coming-of-age comedy about two overachieving high school girls trying to get to a party is the best thing I’ve seen all year. Sounds odd, but I’m sticking by my word.
The film follows Molly (Beanie Feldstein-Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Lady Bird, Hello, Dolly!) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever-Justified, Short Term 12, The Spectacular Now), two high school seniors and best friends since childhood who are both pretentious academic superstars. They’ve never been late to class, missed an assignment, and they even had fake college I.D.s made not to buy alcohol but to sneak into their local collage’s library to check books out and study…yeesh, these two are putting Tracy Flick from Election to shame.
On the eve of their graduation, the thought occurs to Molly and Amy that maybe they’ve been spending too much time studying and overachieving and none of their classmates have ever seen the fun side of them. They get their chance to prove them wrong in the form of an end-of-the-year party hosted by one of their classmates that just about everyone in the school is going to.
However, there is one problem Molly and Amy don’t have the address, so from here on out it becomes a wild night of shenanigans and mischief with drugs, an awkward murder mystery party happening at the exact same time, and a really strange pizza delivery man as these two best friends make their way to the party.
The film also stars Jessica Williams (The Daily Show, 2 Dope Queens, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) as Miss Fine, Jason Sudeikis (Horrible Bosses 1 and 2, Drinking Buddies, We’re the Millers) as Principal Brown, Billie Lourd (Scream Queens, American Horror Story, Star Wars sequel trilogy) as Gigi, Diana Silvers (Into the Dark, Glass, Ma) as Hope, Skyler Gisondo (Halloween (2007), Santa Clarita Diet, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2) as Jared, Molly Gordon (I Am Sam, Animal Kingdom, Good Boys) as Triple A, Noah Galvin (The Real O’Neals, Dear Evan Hansen, Assassination Nation) as George, Mike O’Brien (Saturday Night Live, A.P. Bio) as Pat the Pizza Guy, and Stephanie Styles (Kiss Me, Kate, Newsies, Bonding) as Alison.
Overall, Booksmart is one of the smartest and funniest comedies I’ve seen in recent years and shows a bright future for Olivia Wilde as a director. It’s clear Wilde has an understanding of the coming-of-age comedy genre and she does everything she can to make something truly remarkable and entertaining…and she succeeded.
There is never a dull moment even during slower, emotional parts of the movie it never feels like a slog. Mostly because the performances and chemistry between Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever are so strong and you enjoy watching them all throughout their little adventure.
Both leads portray polar opposites, Feldstein’s character is an eccentric, vulgar wild-card reminiscent of Rebel Wilson from Pitch Perfect and Dever as the shy, straight woman except a lesbian which is actually handled very well in this movie and like a human being instead of a comedic gag. Every time they’re on-screen together I believed these two are best friends and you want to see them get to the party, they play off each other wonderfully and even during slower and more dramatic parts of the movie I never got tired of watching these two.
Similar to Superbad, the film has very exaggerated high school characters but unlike that movie where it’s mostly the Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse characters, just about every student and faculty staff member in this movie is distinct, memorable, and of course very funny. You got the crazy, drugged-out Gigi who always appears and disappears during scenes as a running joke throughout the film, their teacher Miss Fine who is kind of a badass, the leaders of the school drama club who take their acting a little too seriously, and a student who’s been held back twice and has a crush on Miss Fine…the end result is beyond hilarious by the way, you remember each and every one of these characters and they all have unique personalities to tell them apart.
I don’t know what else to say, Booksmart delivers everything I look for not just in a great comedy but a great film in general. Bold storytelling, likable characters, and good writing and directing, Booksmart is a movie that has all of those things and is something I’ll gladly go see again.
I cannot stress this enough, go support this movie, take a break from your Avengers, Detective Pikachu, John Wick, Aladdin, and Godzilla and see this original, smart, and thoroughly funny coming-of-age story. Booksmart is something I urge everyone to go see and I can guarantee you’ll have a fun time.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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