Booksmart

When we look back at what was going on in the heads of our youth in 2019, then this is probably the document to study. The sense of humour and astute writing captures perfectly the zeitgeist of what being an American teen in 2019 meant. Irreverent, wickedly smart, self aware and with a healthy dose of anti-woke – Booksmart is exactly what Superbad was in the previous generation, except with girls and less drugs.

That comparison does its originality a disservice, however, as Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut is bursting with new thoughts, new ideas and new perspectives. In 2019 it is cool to not be cool and smart to be proud of being smart. Being a drop-out, even in the Ferris Beueller sense is not where it’s at. The chemistry of best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) is so uniquely charming it makes even their most idiosyncratic moments a joy to watch. These young women are not classically pretty or popular in a mainstream sense, they are oddballs, but proud of it. Their angst is expressed in different ways now in the social media age, and the comedy to be mined from their self aware weirdness is vast. And better, it is still relevant in 2022, so if you didn’t see it yet it will still seem fresh.

Not every joke or quirk landed for me 100%, but I can’t deny I was intrigued by its general mood. I am neither young, or female, or very much in touch first hand with what it means to be these people, but the script is inclusive enough to translate the experience eloquently and with huge dollops of fun. I am never going to point to this film as a personal favourite, but I do admire it to some degree. I preferred much of both Eighth Grade and Edge of Seventeen as high-school films focused on female characters, but they are three very different movies. Combine the best elements of all three and you might just have the essence of modern teenage life sown up. The acid test is how well these type of films age. Give it ten years and then let’s see. In the meantime, it deserves a borderline 4 star accolade, higher than my personal taste suggests, such is its basic quality and mass appeal.

Decinemal Rating: 71