"Booksmart" Review

"Booksmart" is the critical darling that we need but probably don't deserve. While many of the largest box office draws nowadays seem to be reliant on franchise power and brand names over actual quality to back it up. One of the film's main leads is Beanie Feldstein, Jonah Hill's younger sister. It's an amusing coincidence since "Superbad" has long been hailed as one of the golden pinnacles of teenage coming-of-age films and I can say with no hesitation that "Booksmart" has dethroned it.

Olivia Wilde's directorial debut comes in collaboration with Annapurna Pictures, which has been picking up steam for it's strong, character-driven content that puts the spotlight on female talent both on and behind the camera. Wilde had a strong idea for how she wanted to tell the story of best friends Molly and Amy, who aim to have one epic night before graduating high school after four years of focusing on their academics with little to no indulgence into the more hedonistic side of their adolescence. Wilde successfully brings a buddy-cop element to the antics of these two girls with the energy of an action flick that conveys the perspective of youths who see their high school social interactions as having life-or-death stakes.

Plenty of praise has been given to both Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever for their individual performances and the chemistry they share with one another. Additional compliments must be given to the rest of the young cast, with Billie Lourd and Skyler Gisondo offering some particularly memorable comedic moments throughout the film.

There's a surprisingly striking visual style to film despite having such a moderate budget. The film takes multiple opportunities to sit and breathe into the songs used in the soundtrack which allows the viewer to better take in the emotional journeys of the characters, be they loud and bombastic or soft and sad. There are also some memorable sequences catalysed by the inclusion of drugs into the wild night of adventure, which we'll refrain from describing in detail since it's better left seen for the first time unspoiled. Whether you see it at the cinema or curled up at home on your computer screen, "Booksmart" is a significant must-watch of 2019.