Academic overachievers Amy and Molly thought keeping their noses to the grindstone gave them a leg up on their high school peers. But on the eve of graduation, the best friends suddenly realize that they may have missed out on the special moments of their teenage years. Determined to make up for lost time, the girls decide to cram four years of not-to-be-missed fun into one night -- a chaotic adventure that no amount of book smarts could prepare them for.
Watching the trailer for this film in the cinema, I knew that this would be a must-see film. The directorial debut from Olivia Wilde and her choice of a coming-of-age comedy film is surprising, but ultimately a great choice.
Booksmart has a few easily recognisable faces among the adult cast in the form of Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, and Will Forte and the latter two do a brilliant job in their limited screentime of the excessively supportive parents of an LGBT character. Sudeikis is a less grounded a character who goes for the obvious laughs, yet even he manages to get some laughs from the film's content.
The film is not about the adult characters though, instead, it is all about the friendship between Amy and Molly (portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein respectively), and their mission of--after nothing but studious behaviour--going to a party the night before their graduation. With the majority of the film taking place over one night, there is that invisible ticking timer that builds tension and suspense in every scene, that compounds and ticks ever faster with every obstacle that is thrown in front of our protagonists.
This is a fish-out-of-water scenario in many ways, and this is the source of much of the humour as we watch these girls--whose studious behaviour at school has given them a less than fun reputation--try to wrangle their way into the "party of the year". Their role as outsiders in the world of partying leads to some great comedic elements, but the best part is that it comes from a variety of sources. It is not all just the obvious low-hanging fruit from the joke tree, and this is mainly thanks to some good writing. More specifically, the comedy has a better variety because it is not only based explicitly on the main story arc.
Whether it is Billie Lourd's Gigi, Molly Gordon's Triple A, Skyler Gisondo's Jared, or Jessica Williams aptly named character Mrs Fine, the supporting cast are given their own mini-story arcs which create their own laughs as well as emotional engagement, separate from the main story. This extra level of development fleshes out the community and it really feels like all of these characters are in fact real. This is helped along even further by the characters being balanced. They are not one-dimensional characters (unlike the adults); each person as their strengths and flaws without judgement.
The only real downside to the film is its heavy reliance on the soundtrack. Sometimes it works really well, but there are times where the volume doesn't seem realistic (say in a party scene), and there are some emotional moments that get severely undermined by the use of the song. It comes across that Wilde doesn't quite have enough faith in the script to give it the control that is needed.
This is no instant classic, but it's definitely a uniquely energetic comedy that manages to land more than a few laughs. Many would compare this to Superbad, and while there are similarities, Booksmart has a little bit more class.