Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut is a refreshing comedy due to it’s lead performances, diverse cast, and endearing perspective.
Booksmart is an Annapurna produced High School Comedy centered around two friends trying to capitalize on missed opportunities on the night before Graduation Day. Directed by actress (and first time director) Olivia Wilde, and starring Kaitlyn Dever (Amy) and Beanie Feldstein (Molly) as the two best friends who want the night out they deserve. Much to my surprise, this is better than I could have hoped for, and it is a soon to be cornerstone of modern High School comedies.
Most importantly, Booksmart’s world feels perfectly in tune with our social climate. There is a wide variety of students who are written as representatives for a specific demographic of people, and they all get their time to own the screen. Wilde’s ability to tap into these characters to create genuine, gut busting laughs, is wildly refreshing, and a doorway into creating a penthouse room full of a variety of different jokes. Many comedies have similar types of characters with similar motivations, and given a similar type of personality. It usually creates repeated jokes and humor that is same-y to the point where it only peaks in its earliest stages. Booksmart isn’t the same. By giving this story a wide-variety of perspectives, there is never a time where something funny isn’t happening. There’s Dad jokes, raunchy jokes, sex jokes, culturally relevant jokes, and more, and many of them are adhered to a character’s specific personality. Meaning that the entire runtime is filled with varying degrees of humor that is delivered differently than we’ve seen before.
Structurally, Booksmart is a story framed no different than many other High School comedies. Driven to the last big party of the year, fueled by a bit of a sex drive, and someone not meeting your expectations in the end, that’s all there, totally. The difference between a great version of this, and a lesser one, is that the great ones elevate their material by speaking to it differently. There is only so many ways a story can be written, and comedies might be the toughest of the bunch. The comedy here contains so many moments of unique laughs, that the unoriginality of structure becomes less of a problem. I don’t mind movies having similar tropes or beats that are hit, as long as the director, writers, and cast do something unique with it to visualize their perspective, that’s all that matters.
Beanie Feldstein is the bigger star of the two leads, and she is a huge reason this movie works as well as it does, but this is really Kaitlyn Dever’s show. I’d only ever seen her in smaller roles prior to this, and I hope this gets her more leading roles. She elevated every piece of material she was given by giving her character a unique sense of individuality. There’s a screen presence that exudes comfort, strength, and confidence in the role, and the quieter moments work because of the contrast to Feldstein’s louder moments. She and Feldstein are perfect together, and their chemistry lights up like a Fourth of July fireworks show. With a multitude of different sparks, colors, and pop that will have you smiling, laughing, clapping, and maybe even crying.
You’ve probably already seen endless amounts of praise for Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, and maybe even a bit of criticism, but make the choice to see this film in theaters. With all of the ginormous, “adrenaline fueled thrill rides” getting ready to dominate the screens, give 100 minutes of your week to Booksmart. A hilarious comedy that highlights the strength of companionship and the significance of inclusivity to open up doorways for refreshing laughs and representation. Every character is a genuinely good person, with a good attitude, and someone who just wants to live while they’re young. There isn’t a level of prejudice, bias, or phobia in sight, and that’s because it showcases a sincere love to any and all people. Any sort of complication between characters comes from a misunderstanding or lack of perspective until it is gained, and that is why Booksmart is the revelation it’s being claimed as. As a straight, white male, my stories have been told, my heterosexuality has been painted by the same people over and over again, and now I’m ready to see someone else’s story. Booksmart isn’t “original”, nor is it “subverting” the narrative structure of High School comedies, but one thing this film has above anything else in it’s sub-genre, is perspective, and that’s what makes movies special.
Booksmart gets a 96/100