BOOKSMART (2019)
DIRECTED BY OLIVIA WILDE
beanie-feldstein, billie-lourd, Comedy, eduardo-franco, High School, jason-sudeikis, jessica-williams, kaitlyn-dever, lisa-kudrow, michael-patrick-obrien, molly-gordon, olivia-wilde, will-forte
Booksmart feels like your friend sharing a story that gets wilder with every retelling.
THE PLOT
Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are best friends, rule followers, and high school overachievers who realize — on the night before graduation — that their classmates have managed to get into the same elite schools without skipping parties and . Fueled by disbelief and a little panic, they decide to check off all their teenage rebellion in one night. The fun unfurls from there.
THE CAST
This is Booksmart‘s biggest win. Feldstein and Dever’s chemistry is real, and it makes the movie’s emotional beats hit as hard as the jokes.
This movie has literally one of the best supporting casts of the 2010s, featuring:
Jessica Williams
Molly Gordon
Eduardo Franco
Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte as
Jason Sudeikis, who was, of course, married to Wilde at the time of this movie’s release
Michael Patrick O’Brien, creator of the incredibly hilarious A.P. Bio
Billie Lourd, in a better-fitting role than her turn in The Last Showgirl (2024)
Skyler Gisondo
FINAL THOUGHTS
There are no bad vibes, just pure fun and genuine affection for the characters. It’s heavy on the progressivism, but that’s kind of the point and it knows how to laugh at itself. Booksmart reminds you that movies don’t have to reinvent the wheel to be great; sometimes they just have to make you laugh, root for the leads, and feel like you’re in on the night. Think of it like a not-as-iconic retelling of Superbad (2007).
this movie is good.
My rating: 3.5/5