Review - Booksmart

Booksmart is the directorial debut of Olivia Wilde, an actress who I loved in Tron: Legacy, even if not many people did. The plot will probably sound fairly familiar, as it follows two girls about to graduate from high school. They've worked hard all year to get into the colleges they want (like, really hard, "fun is the enemy" kind of hard), only as they're about to graduate, they realise that everyone else who put in way less work and partied way more has also gotten into places like Yale and Stamford. As you might expect, this shakes them quite a bit and they decide to say "Fuck it" and spend the night before their graduation trying to go to the party all the cool kids are at, to prove that they're really fun as well as really smart. It's clearly a well trodden path and the film is essentially just the girls going from event to event (where the transport also serves as events in their own right) but everything is so perfectly done that it feels just about fresh enough. Little details that tell us how characters actually get to the next location, instead of relying on simple plot convenience, are sprinkled throughout and I think it's those that kept the structure airtight for me. Essentially, it's a series of vignettes but they all flow together into a perfect lil' narrative. Thematically and tonally, this will be a very odd touchstone but structurally, I'd definitely draw comparisons to Martin Scorcese's After Hours; a ramble through the night where surprises to delight and surprise await around every corner. Booksmart doesn't need to put much work into the actual plotting of everything but it does and damn if that doesn't enhance what's already there.

Any comedy will always live or die on its performances and so seeing as you've probably already worked out that I really like Booksmart, I can't imagine it being the greatest of shocks that every single actor in the film (and I mean every actor) is superb. Let's start with the two leads, Beanie Feldstein first. If you follow my recommendations at all, first, I'm flattered but second, you last saw her in Lady Bird, another coming of age film starring women, directed by a woman. There, she was definitely a supporting character. A strong one, one I could have done with more of, but a supporting character none the less. Here though, she is joint lead and owns all her scenes. Externally, she's brash and controlling but internally, we can clearly see a vulnerability and it allows for wonderful empathy. Importantly, she's also hysterical. Perhaps even better though is her co-lead Kaitlyn Dever. I've seen her in a handful of very small roles in stuff before but like Feldstein, now she's in the spotlight and able to prove what an acting gift she is. Again, there's a deliberate shell to her performance, underneath which we see a real terror of having to actually go out in public and be the woman she wants to be. Together, the two women have a genuine and profoundly touching friendship, the likes of which I feel lucky to grasp fleetingly in my own life, becoming a screen couple for the ages. Surrounding them is a sublime cast of supporting characters who all manage to feel fully fleshed out enough to warrant this film being about any character we encounter, instead of the two we do follow. I'm starting to ramble a bit so I'll focus on two specifically, one of whom is Gigi, played by Billie Lourd. She's an almost spectral figure, existing in a bunch of realities at once, which obviously comes across really weird to every single other human being, but simply said, whenever she pops up, classic antics are never far behind. Finally there is Jared, played by Skyler Gisondo. For much of the film, he's a hysterical comic punchline but as with every single other human being in this film, there is a level to him that he has had pushed back by others that he slowly allows to rise up. Plenty of other wonderful actors like Will Forte, Lisa Kudrow and Jason Sudekis also turn up but no, we must move on! Just let it be said that everyone here is superb and I would go to a party that even one of them was at.

But Booksmart is a comedy and if it doesn't make me laugh, it's a complete waste of time. Safe to say, Booksmart is about as far from a waste of time as you can get. I saw it with a bunch of mates and we started laughing very early on, managing to keep that laughter up through the entire 100 minute run time. Mark Kermode always talks of a "six laugh test" for successful comedies and Booksmart could hit that bar in single scenes alone. The reason I truly love Booksmart though is not just that it has plenty of amazing jokes but that it's also deeply heartfelt. I'm reminded of things like Blockers, The Kings of Summer and even The Inbetweeners in that they are all very funny indeed but at their core, they understand teenage friendship. No, I can't speak for what it's like to be a teenage girl (and if you are a teenage girl, I just want to congratulate you on making it this far, I have no idea how you gals manage it) but I know what it's like to have people you spend all day, every day of your adolescence with and the complicated yet stunningly enriching relationship that creates. Through the consistently delight inducing lead performances, as well as a script that is unafraid to sacrifice the odd laugh here or there for a moment of sincere sororal connection between two women who love each other with their everything, there is a cord of empathy created between viewer and character that is stronger than even The Rock. Also worth noting is the soundtrack for the film. I believe there are a couple of pieces written originally for the film but predominantly, we're listening to pre-existing music. Much of it is music that is not up my street at all and yet due to pitch perfect positioning of songs at the most precise of moments, each and every piece works. Already, I find myself hooked on the soundtrack because of this. In fact, while writing this, I have the playlist of the soundtrack blaring in my ears and the Perfume Genius song I'm at right now is reigniting the fire I have for this film. There's also a superb song by Run The Jewels which has a guitar riff so sublimely addictive that may very well define the film. When you can make a film so deeply compassionate that it causes me to like some pretty grungy rap, you're doing something exceptional.

Booksmart is a film that loves. I've become more and more compassionate towards films like that, that love their characters, their world, their very existence with a passion so hot it warms my crooked heart. Comparisons to Lady Bird are to be expected but honestly, they're really different films on an emotional level and while there was something about Lady Bird that snapped a bit of my heart off and brought me to tears, Booksmart is able to deliver true emotional connections to two characters who, over 100 minutes, I fell in love with, all while being hysterically funny. If Booksmart is a film that loves, then it's only appropriate that I am just head over heels. I can't believe I'm doing this after so long but it is an honest to God pleasure to give Booksmart a