Review of Booksmart (2019) by Jluis_001 — 25 May 2019

As it happened at the time with Get Out, then with Crazy Rich Asians and now with this film, it's quite clear to me that American critics are desperate to be inclusive.

I comment this because after finishing this film I found myself quite confused because many of the opinions that I was reading and that I was finding about the story of this film made me ask again and again what those people saw that I didn't.

Olivia Wilde basically made Superbad female version and that's not her fault. Well in a way it is because she chose that script to debut as a director but the rest is the fault of the writers because they were the ones who implemented this story but analyzing it, you will realize that you're practically watching the same film. The only difference is that the main characters in this case are women and they don't have a third character to finish the jokes like Fogell.

Although what interested the guys in Superbad was to get laid, the only difference with these girls is that they try to have fun considering that they apparently think they wasted their time in high school studying to the fullest trying to enter a good college.

Because apparently studying hard and not living at parties with drugs and alcohol is only a crime of the nerds. What a cliche isn't?

But it doesn't stop there. Once the story makes clear where is going, the path that follows is saturated with clichés until the ending.

I don't understand in what way anyone would tell me this is a fresh film, that it reinvents the genre, that it brings something new to the table because I didn't see it anywhere.

Does that mean it's a bad film? Actually bad wouldn't be the word I would chose but irrelevant.

I cannot deny in any way that more stories are needed with female characters, which obviously need more films directed by women.

That the voices of these women should be delivering strong stories and in general terms Booksmart has some of those things I mention.

The director is a woman, the main characters and screenwriters too and I applauded they have that opportunity and that they have the forum for people to see and hear their work but don't disguise the importance of that proposal with the results delivered because I personally think that Booksmart has nothing original or new and that isn't necessarily a bad thing because how many film exists that repeat thematics? However, most of the time that is stressed and criticized and I don't see why in this case it was different and it became acclamation.