Booksmart (2019)
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Booksmart Movie Review
Booksmart is a 2019 teen comedy film directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Fieldstein. It’s such a great, refreshing movie.
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“You can make yourself cum using only your mind?
That’s like the one thing my mind can’t do“
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First and foremost, the movie follows two regular-looking, not that pretty girls which made them and the entire film seem very grounded in reality and different. And an even more authentic part of it is that one of the two friends is a lesbian. The two are still great friends and it’s a very interesting straight-lesbian dynamic that I have rarely seen before.
Yes, these two are a superb duo. Amy is such a terrific character and I loved how her lesbianism was portrayed as just another part of her and not her defining characteristic. The movie is PC, but in all the right ways, by making it unimportant and normalized. She’s a lot of fun, I loved her personality and her relationship with Hope is stellar.
I loved the twist with Ryan, though I saw it coming. That anti-stereotypical approach really worked in the movie’s favor. The same goes for that scene where she vomited all over Hope. That was a terrific sequence as it showcased how gay people can be just as stupid, and just as scared or as messy as straight folk.
Molly is also great and her personality is very big and bright. Her relationship with Jared wasn’t the best realized, but it worked nonetheless. And of course I appreciated that she did not end up with Nick as that was a needed grounded in reality blow that really made the movie very real and powerful.
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I absolutely loved their friendship. I found that final sequence very powerful and sad when they said goodbye to one another. I also loved that fight of theirs as it was realistic with all the power dynamic issues in their relationship, and in particular the choice to mute their argument when it reached the cursing level was brilliant. It was unimportant to hear the rest of it, but just seeing that silence juxtaposed with their yelling faces in the crowded area made for one truly powerful moment of cinema.
The performances in Booksmart are pretty good. I really liked the casting of lesser-known actresses. Yes, Beanie Fieldstein isn’t particularly good in some scenes where I could see her acting, but overall she was pretty solid. But Kaitlyn Dever is the real star of the film as her performance is believable and quite strong.
There is unfortunately one big problem that Booksmart has that really took me out of it more than a couple of times. The choice to include music constantly and just in small pieces was a really bad one. Yes, it was original, but a bad kind of originality. Not only did I hate the rap songs chosen, but also the quick cuts made it hasty and quite forced for the most part.
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So I struggled between giving it a four or a four and a half rating, but eventually I decided for the latter as the movie is simply so refreshing, unique and different in this teen genre and that needs to be respected. The dialogue is also very believable and strong whereas the humor is terrific with more than a couple of very funny scenes. And it’s a lot of well paced fun so I’ve had a blast watching it.
Not only is Booksmart incredibly entertaining, funny and emotional throughout, but it’s also a genuinely refreshing, different and new teen movie for this day and age. I did have a big problem with its rap soundtrack and quick edits with the songs as those felt forced, but otherwise this teen comedy is a winner across the board thanks to very well realized, superb characters, a lot of heart as well as realism, strong dialogue, a couple of powerful moments and a particularly strong friendship at the core of it all.
