Booksmart Resets the High-School Comedy Bar

An Ironic Take on Work/Life Balance

Booksmart is a day-in-the-life story of best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein). Amy and Molly are true academic overachievers. They’ve dedicated school to study. Now, as class valedictorian and salutatorian, Molly’s set to attend Yale and Amy’s going to Columbia. Molly’s feeling supremely smug. She just knows she’s outdone everyone else in her class. But a chance encounter on the last day of school throws her world-view into chaos. Her classmates, the ones who spent the last four years enjoying themselves, are set to attend top-tier universities too.

Molly realizes all her high school days (and therefore Amy’s) lack fun. She doesn’t have any friends other than Amy. It soon becomes obvious that’s because she never bothered to make them. Neither she nor Amy ever interacted with any classmates unless it was for school. No parties, or get-togethers. Nothing but school and school-related activities for four years. Running on rage and FOMO, Molly decides she and Amy absolutely HAVE to attend the end-of-school blowout. And when this pair of babes-in-the-woods focus on partying, one should naturally expect shenanigans.

Usually, a film delving into this type of situation from a woman’s point of view revolves around middle-aged, post-child-bearing-years women. Modern messaging tells girls that they must sacrifice in order to be successful. Women are taught that focus and careful planning are the only way to excel. The more subtle messaging aimed at women is that if you’re taking time for yourself then you’re setting yourself up for failure. But this smart comedy smoothly blends this and other timely issues in with the high school angst and comedy to great effect.

Booksmart offers more than just off-color humor and hijinx

As premises go, Booksmart keeps it simple and straightforward. High school kids set to graduate intend to spend the night before graduation partying their asses off. It’s been done. But the story usually revolves around a group of outcast guys going where the “in-crowd” is (think Superbad) or a teenage girl lamenting her way through a night pining over a guy (think Sixteen Candles) amidst dick jokes and obnoxious low and frequently sexist/racist humor rooted in prejudice stereotypes. This time around, Booksmart aims to bring the hilarity but avoid the low hanging fruit variety of comedy.

This story perfectly combines situational comedy and teenage white girl ridiculousness all set in highly relatable (and nostalgically humorous) environs. It’s a quest where the protagonists are terrible at choosing their own adventure. The film is all the better for it. Mixed in with the expected encounters of two awkward girls determined to have a night out are visual hot takes on the plight of underpaid teachers (this is one rideshare experience that’s certain to be talked about), the power of rumors, teacher-student dating (please let this trope die) and the randomness of life in general. It’s not possible to deep dive without spoiling some of the movies best moments but suffice to say its moments surpass expectation in both ridiculousness and charm.

Booksmart is what happens when you combine top-tier writing (by women) with a fearless (woman) director and two dynamic (women) actors leading a diverse and extremely talented ensemble cast. It’s both a hat-tip to feminist theory run amuck and an homage to its film predecessors. Booksmarts’ not trying to be a prequel or gateway to any other show or “feminist-minded property” it’s an unabashed look at coming of age in a world that frequently forgets to laugh at itself.

Booksmart is trope subversion at its finest

This ensemble cast is one stand out after another. Although the main story follows Amy and Molly, the supporting roles are spot on to bring depth and character to the forefront. The film tackles issues other films fumble with head-on with flair and perfectly timed wit. By capitalizing on an amazingly talented cast, Booksmart showcases the various clubs and cliques without the hate.

The movie navigates between the typical friend groups that are part and parcel to high school comedies but often flips the narrative in the most common of places. The outdoor lunch area is ground zero for cool kids and outcasts alike. But in this film, the popular set looks less like the haves over the have-nots than other films taking on this topic. Molly and Amy feel more self-segregated than outcasts. That story choice throws not only their relationship with each other under a microscope, but it also demonstrates how perception is always dependent on point of view.

Molly isn’t the hero of this tale. She’s not the long-suffering geek toiling away in obscurity and being ostracized by the cool kids. This graduating class is full of teens that are self-aware, self-effacing, and not quite as self-involved as assumed.

Booksmart is what happens when no one cares if the comedy has that distinctive whiff of male energy

This is one of the few times, I can say unequivocally that a film more than deserved the hype it received at film festivals. Booksmart is far more than just Superbad for girls and if you don’t walk out of this flick talking about at least one Gigi inexplicable pop-up then you missed half the fun. Besides, everyone should attend a murder mystery dinner party as their pre-graduation so long as George (Noah Galvin) is assigning the parts and Alan (Austin Crute) opens the performance upon arrival. Trust me, Booksmart is worth the price of admission just to see Alan and George in full theater-kid mode for the entire film.

Relating Without Baiting

Booksmart deftly showcases both Molly and Amy’s love interests without knee-jerking to either queer-baiting (Amy is a lesbian) or pandering to superficial body-positivity messaging for Molly in her quest to catch her crush’s eye. This cast has more than one queer characters and not a single one embodies a stereotype. While both story arcs are played for dramatic effect the jokes were never at the expense of someone’s sexuality. Where the story dives into stereotypical character types, their place in the action quickly added depth, humor, and life to the part. The expected quickly morphed into the unexpected even when you think you’ve figured out how it all works out in the end.

Booksmart‘s a glimpse at high school life that remembered trauma doesn’t have fuel every meaningful narrative.

Grade: A
Runtime: 102 minutes Rated: R

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Starring	Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Billie Lourd, Jessica Williams with Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis
Directed By	Olivia Wilde (feature-length directorial debut)
Produced By	Megan Ellison p.g.a., Jessica Elbaum p.g.a., Katie Silberman Chelsea Barnard p.g.a., David Distenfeld
Written By	Katie Silberman (previous writers: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, and Susana Fogel)