Every generation has their high school comedy they hold dear. The one that best fit my coming of age was American Pie, but the best two in recent memory are Superbad and Lady Bird. Booksmart has a chance to be considered among those great films in the high school pantheon, in part because of the smart script, and in part because of Kaitlyn Dever, and Jonah Hill’s younger sister Beanie Feldstein, who will be welcomed with open arms into the coming of age movie character hall of fame.
Molly (Feldstein) and Amy (Dever) are graduating in the Top 3 in their class for high school, happy they got into their first choice of school because of their hard work. They looked down on their dumb classmates who they believed wasted their time…until the girls realize that all of their friends got into great schools as well. Having missed out on the parties, Molly and Amy decide that this night will be their chance to experience all that fun they missed out on in school. Chaos and adventures ensue.
All great high school movies, in hindsight, boast a cast of some of the funniest people on the planet, and become joke delivery machines, which Booksmart basically is, beginning to end. Olivia Wilde directed the movie, so she enlists her husband Jason Sudeikis, and some of his buddies for solid cameos. Those people are the known quantities though. The surprises will be all the kids in the movie, who have been killing it on TV shows or in bit parts in movies for some time now. Billie Lourd is hysterical as the vapid rich California girl who’s spontaneity and reappearances form Booksmart’s best running gag. Noah Galvin puts a fun spin on the drama student who takes themselves WAY too seriously. Eduardo Franco also kills it as the high school kid hot for his teacher. But the biggest revelation is Skylar Gisondo, who vacillates easily between shallow idiot and earnest doofus with talent of the two leading ladies. I expect Gisondo will lead a film at some point with how hysterical he is.
But this movie at its core is a two person story: Molly and Amy’s. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever are stellar in their scenes together, using the massive amounts of talent they possess. Feldstein carries herself like her brother: brash, self-certain, but carrying an inner insecurity she uses to drive herself. Most coming of age stories are more sexual in nature, but Molly’s is refreshingly different: she needs to stop looking down on others to make herself feel better. As good as Feldstein is, Dever might be even better. She has the biggest arc in the movie, and completely sells her transformation from meek sidekick to fierce independent woman. Feldstein and Dever’s dynamic together crackles with both humor and real pathos, feeling like a romantic relationship without the sex. Both are amazing in the big fight Amy and Molly have, releasing years worth of wrongoings upon each other. Props to Olivia Wilde too, shooting that scene for all the tragedy and sadness it is going for.
Everyone involved in Booksmart hopefully becomes household names for the joy they’ve created. Props to Olivia Wilde, Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, and the host of female writers for giving us an awesome high school coming of age story for women that actually feels like women wrote it. Also big props for getting in some great feminist icons into the movie, and using Malala as a safe word. Stroke of genius!