Booksmart
Photo: Francois Duhamel
  • Film
  • Recommended

Review

Booksmart

4 out of 5 stars

Sheltered high-school besties expand their horizons during the last night before graduating in Olivia Wilde's confidently weird (and wild) comedy.

Joshua Rothkopf
Advertising

Time Out says

Review by Joshua Rothkopf

The current golden era of high-school movies is offering the ‘Breakfast Club’ generation serious competition. Some of these films are good enough to land multiple Oscar nominations (‘Lady Bird’). Some sneak heartache into comedy (‘The Edge of Seventeen’). Some are sharp-edged and sassy (‘Easy A’). ‘Booksmart’ could be all of the above.

Scripted by an inspired quartet (Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins and Katie Silberman), ‘Booksmart’ invents a socially awkward, Ivy League-bound duo, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein from ‘Lady Bird’). The two pals’ smugness rings hollow: their equally nerdy peers have also got into exclusive universities, but those classmates who spent their time necking beer bongs and having tons of sex along the way? They got in too. How did the two never learn to multitask?

In her behind-the-camera debut, actor-turned-director Olivia Wilde shows off something rarer than technique or comic timing: she’s got loads of compassion. The classic high-school  ‘types’ – the spoiled loner, the spaced-out drama chick, the buff bro – are all given the chance to evolve into genuine characterisations. And it all happens within the space of a single sex-positive night. People, demand a ‘Booksmart’ cinematic universe! 

Release Details

  • Rated:15
  • Release date:Friday 31 May 2019
  • Duration:102 mins

Cast and crew

  • Director:Olivia Wilde
  • Screenwriter:Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman
  • Cast:
    • Kaitlyn Dever
    • Billie Lourd
    • Beanie Feldstein
Advertising
You may also like
You may also like