Book Smart (2019)

[baumer]

Discuss

[4815162342]

Really good

[baumer]

Seeing it this morning.....hope it's as good as it looks.

[Webslinger]

Booksmart joins the likes of Lady Bird, The Edge of Seventeen, and Eighth Grade at the height of what feels like a recent renaissance in great teen films. As overseen with keen comedic and dramatic sensibilities from first-time director Olivia Wilde, it’s a hilarious film whose ribald humor pops, whose narrative feels fresh despite sounding like plenty of other teen films on a surface level, and whose characters feel real and relatable. Wilde gets tons of mileage from the terrific lead performances by Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. Dever delivers upon the blistering promise she showed in the underrated Short Term 12 with a performance that hits just about every note right. Her comedic timing is on-point and her emotional investment in her character’s struggles to navigate a love life as an out lesbian (a most welcome change to the common formula in these films!) registers strongly enough that it’s tough not to root for her. Feldstein is also frequently hilarious as the more extroverted half of the duo, and she succeeds in bringing edge and confidence to the part. The chemistry between Dever and Feldstein is palpable enough to sell their characters’ extremely close friendship at every turn; in that sense, it feels very reminiscent of the chemistry that sold the bond between Jonah Hill (Feldstein’s brother) and Michael Cera in the similarly constructed Superbad. Their misadventures are frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious and get numerous uproarious assists from a supporting cast that is also on top of its game. Admittedly, the abundance of recent riches in this subgenre might make it a little tougher to appreciate just how good Booksmart really is – after all, not even a full year has passed since critics and audiences were excited about Eighth Grade – but this film hits just about every mark with precision and feels heartfelt and hysterically funny in about equal measure. It’s absolutely worth seeing and enjoying for the audiences that have embraced the aforementioned canon of new teen film gems.

 

A-

 

Stray Thoughts:

- This has to be the most LGBTQ+-positive mainstream teen movie I've ever seen (edit: okay, besides Love, Simon), and I'm ecstatic that Annapurna got it into wide release without really hiding the fact that Amy is openly gay in the trailers. It's also nice to see that the film isn't yet another coming-out narrative, but rather a struggle for Amy to actually *do* something with her sexuality years after coming out. The fact that the film treats her sexuality like no big deal is great, and mentioning gender presentation and setting a crucial scene in an all-genders bathroom is a nice (albeit extremely shallow) nod to the "T" part of the acronym in lieu of an actual trans character. There's so little representation of LGBTQ+ people in teen movies (and movies in general, of course) that this film feels almost quietly revolutionary for including so much LGBTQ+-positive material.

 

- I *loved* all the nerdy stuff in Amy's bedroom - especially the sign on the door reading "A Room of One's Own."

 

- I called the Amy/Hope hookup (or, rather, failed hookup) in the very first scene in which Hope appeared - ditto Ryan's straightness after the first off-handed comment about not knowing for sure whether she's a lesbian. The audience I saw this one with was small, but DAMN did they lose it at the revelation of Amy's... um... missed target.

 

- I actually didn't know that Beanie Feldstein was Jonah Hill's sister until seeing it on IMDB this week, but now I can't unsee or unhear the similarities. I hope she'll get the same opportunities as her brother because she seems like she has even more talent based on her performances here and in Lady Bird.

 

- I'm genuinely surprised that there hasn't been more made of the boon in excellent teen comedies in recent years. Yes, all the examples I mentioned in my review are R-rated indie flicks that didn't make a whole lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but it seems like all of them got widespread love from the audiences that did see them and the other three each found considerably wider audiences on home video and streaming - which also seems inevitable for this one.

Edited May 25, 2019 by Webslinger

[LonePirate]

I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard during a movie as I did during the scene where the principal plays the phone audio through the car speakers. That was easily the funniest thing I have seen since Girls Trip.

 

The rest of the movie is very funny as the laughs are spread throughout. I highly recommend this film

 

Grade: A+ 10/10

[The Panda]

It’s a really funny film, with strong characters but I at times think it went to over the top to be as effective as coming of age films like Lady Bird, Edge of Seventeen and Eighth Grade that it’s getting comps to.

 

The ensemble is good, especially the center two characters who have a relatable relationship.  I think it falters in aspects like “the twenty year old high school grad goes straight to google”, I get that it’s comedy but it took the whole thing out of actually resembling a school like the better coming of age films do.  This one sometimes caricaturizes different aspects to an extreme and causes the film to suffer from it some.

 

It’s overall still really fresh, funny and enjoyable, and I’d recommend seeing it.  But don’t expect a new coming of age classic, imo.

 

B

[dxmatrixdt]

fun plot - two girls crash the last day of school.  the awkward scene with the girls in the back of the car with the failed friend/entertainer with the music skipping was key (made me want to club the screen with a toy light-saber)

Spoiler

like the time in 03 when I started up Opposite of December and track #1 blew up in my face in my moms van and sounded like it was skipping (& stoned quiet) and girls in the back are wacked but still on intruder alert w/ weirdos eyes checking stuff out

.  that part goes well with the girls waking up as barbie dolls after getting stoned and feeling out of touch.

 

the movie ended with a party which makes it difficult for me to want to go with re-watches, but i would give it an A- for staying the distance as an energetic movie with its own identity and constant pokes.  The script felt like it was written last month, but i don't think that will take away from its social influence. 

90/100

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Slave Animal Rights

[Avatree]

maaaannn I loved this. 

[cannastop]

The best movie I've seen in the past 18 months. It starts as a broad comedy or satire but it becomes something else too. Full of interesting ideas and humanity.

 

A

[cannastop]

@baumer

 

Did you get around to seeing this?

 

Also, would you please change the title of the thread to "Booksmart"?

Edited June 2, 2019 by cannastop

[filmlover]

Deserving of joining the pantheon of terrific movies about teenage girls. What starts out as a riotous "Superbad for girls" eventually becomes much more about the bonds of friendship. This is a movie with as much heart as it does laughs (which it has in abundance - everything with that damn stuffed panda almost had me on the floor ). Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein both expand on the promise from past roles to make Amy and Molly fleshed-out human beings and have aces chemistry with each other. The entire cast is excellent, with special mentions for Billie Lourd and Skyler Gisondo. It's a surprisingly effective directorial debut from Olivia Wilde, and I hope she continues to make more movies of they're of the same quality as this. A-

[Webslinger]

So, the actress who plays Hope in this film, Diana Silvers, is also the lead teen in Ma - something I definitely didn't put together until after seeing this movie. There's an off-handed "...but not in a lesbian way"-esque joke made to her early on in Ma that made me laugh based on what we saw from her character in this film.

 

I figured it would be better to make that stray observation here rather than in the Ma thread since it's technically a spoiler for this film, but... come on: did anyone not see Amy and Hope getting together with how Hope looks at her in the classroom scene?