Booksmart Review: A Raunchy But Heartfelt Female Take On Superbad
- naterichard98
- Jul 20, 2019
- 2 min read
DIRECTED BY: OLIVIA WILDE STARRING: KAITLYN DEVER, BEANIE FELDSTEIN, & JESSICA WILLIAMS RATED R FOR STRONG SEXUAL CONTENT AND LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT, DRUG USE AND DRINKING - ALL INVOLVING TEENS
LENGTH: 102 MINUTES
We're in the midst of a coming-of-age movie renaissance, with movies like Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird and Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade generating awards buzz and films like Jonah Hill's mid90s and Kelly Fremon Craig's The Edge of Seventeen winning the hearts of critics. With Booksmart, Olivia Wilde is the latest actor-turned-director to take a jab at the genre.
Booksmart falls more along the lines of Superbad rather than Lady Bird, yet despite this it stands right in line with those two staples of the genre. Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein play Molly and Amy, two overachieving high school seniors on the verge of graduating who decide that they spent too much time in high school hitting the books, so they decide to cram all their high-school partying into one wild and crazy night.
Booksmart seems primarily aimed to the millennial and generation z crowd, especially with its sense of humor and cast of characters. It's certainly raunchy but it's socially conscious at the same time, especially with Amy, one of the two main characters of the film, being an outed lesbian. Not to mention the film's sole sex scene is between two females, though it ultimately ends in a very Superbad-esque fashion. Though despite all of this, the film never makes a big deal out of the character's sexuality like we've seen time and time again, instead it portrays sexuality in a way that feels honest and nonchalant.
A lot of the laughs come from the character of Gigi, played by Billie Lourd, an unfiltered, free-spirited rich girl, who pops up randomly and unexpectedly throughout Molly and Amy's crazy night. Lourd's comedic timing and delivery is an absolute highlight of the movie. The film also wouldn't be as effective as it is if it weren't for the glowing chemistry between Dever and Feldstein whose comradery feels akin to some of comedy's best female-friendships.
Wilde shows so much promise here as a director, not only does the film have a sense of style but it never feels like it is forced to stay drab in it's suburban setting. Instead Wilde breathes life into the film, not only are the party sequences directed with a lot of energy and there's a certain scene involving in a pool, that'll easily be stuck in your head until the end of the year.
Booksmart is a winner, it's full of so much life and energy and features some extremely memorable characters. It's this generation's Superbad.
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