Review of Booksmart (2019) by Markhreviews — 27 May 2019

Writing a good comedy is hard. Writing a “coming of age” comedy that doesn’t sink into a bottomless pit of existential angst or become so sugary that it induces diabetes is even harder. “Booksmart” is so good it generates irrational exuberance about this tired, clichéd genre.

Directing her first feature film, actress Olivia Wilde takes charge with a self-confidence usually reserved for a veteran director at the peak of her powers. Her steady hand helps the characters navigate a potentially off-putting barrage of f-bombs and graphic sexual language to reveal themselves to be irreverent but sweet, outrageous but real. It’s a balancing act Wilde appears to manage effortlessly.

Writers Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins and Katie Silberman also deserve praise. The screenplay for “Booksmart” mixes laugh-out-loud humor (the doll fantasy sequence is the funniest scene I’ve seen this year) with characters crafted so winningly you are pulling for them while laughing at them and with them. The smart script also offers plenty of surprises.

The story line is slight, but all that’s needed. On the last day of school, Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) recognize that, perhaps, they’ve been too singularly focused on their academic success and decide to attend their classmates’ year-end blow-out the night before graduation. While the story structure is formulaic, it serves its purpose.

The glue that holds this film together is the chemistry between Molly and Amy. Feldstein announced herself as a young actress of note in last year’s “Lady Bird” (being Jonah Hill’s sister probably didn’t hurt her impeccable comedic timing). Dever, first seen on TV’s “Justified” (2011-2015) and the film “Short Term 12” is a revelation. It’s an indication of this film’s self-assurance that Dever’s character is gay, but her sexual orientation does not become a cause, a crusade or even the primary motivation for her actions. She just is. Molly and Amy argue, criticize and support each other fiercely. While doing so, they knit together a film that is gross, profane, sweet, touching, uplifting, consistently insightful, quirky and refreshingly funny.

The texture of the film is further buoyed by some key actors in minor roles. Jason Sudeikis (“We’re the Millers,” “Horrible Bosses 2” and Wilde’s real-life partner) adds a deft touch as the needy school principal/part-time Lyft driver. Jessica Williams (“The Daily Show”) fully embodies the “cool teacher.” Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte, as Amy’s parents, are compellingly confused by their daughter’s sexual orientation while remaining cloyingly, cluelessly supportive.

This is a film that crackles with smart dialogue and laughs that are all well-earned. It’s the funniest movie I’ve seen in years. At the screening I attended, most of the people in the audience were laughing out loud early on. This may be the best film I’ve seen at capturing fully the gamut of emotions - the confusion, optimism, pain, self-consciousness, unearned self-assurance and burgeoning self-awareness – that late adolescence represents. It’s one of the best films of the year.