“Booksmart” - Film Review
Booksmart, the story of best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein), begins on the night before their high school graduation. They are unpopular, and not what you would call cool by high school standards. Sure, they have fake IDs, but they’re fake college IDs they’ve been using to go to the twenty-four-hour library. Needless to say, they haven’t spent much time partying over the last four years.
Molly’s world falls apart when she learns that many of the kids who have spent the last four years partying are headed to the same prestigious college she’s going to. She doesn’t understand how they were able to have fun in high school and get into a good school. Molly had always thought she could be good at school or good at partying, but not both. Now, desperate to fix her mistake, Molly drags Amy along on a night of partying to see what they’ve been missing.
What makes Booksmart so one of a kind is that it finally gives an honest voice to the smart girl. Not a pretentious voice, but a voice that feels genuine and sincere. It is an ode to the magical feeling of being young, of friendship, and of taking steps toward becoming the person you were destined to be. How to grow up and not lose childhood friendships when things don’t turn out the way you expected them to.
The chemistry between Dever and Feldstein feels real, as though they’ve been inseparable best friends since birth. That’s important, because their relationship is what the movie hinges on. The audience has to believe they have a slightly unhealthy codependent relationship that always has their best interests at heart. There is not a single doubt that there is love between the two of them, and the movie wouldn’t work without their lovely performances.
United Artists Releasing
In what is being billed simply as a raunchy teenage comedy, there is a plethora of nuanced performances offered by a new group of young Hollywood actors. Director Olivia Wilde spoke about the fact that all lines had to be memorized before shooting, and how the serious attitude toward this style of movie made such a difference in the performances. The entire cast was present and dialed in. Billie Lourd is an absolute standout, taking her few scenes and turning them into one of the best comedic performances in years.
Booksmart takes the genre of teen comedies and offers space for a wide variety of people to see themselves getting the always-promised happy ending. It did not add anything particularly new or genre-defining to this style of film, but it is the best example of what a coming-of-age story can be. Booksmart is hilarious without ever making fun of someone for the sake of a joke. It is earnest and sweet, a pure delight.
Follow me on BlueSky, Instagram, Letterboxd, & YouTube. Check out Movies with My Dad, a new podcast recorded on the car ride home from the movies.