We’re all familiar with the “One Crazy Night” format immortalized by classics such as “Dazed and Confused” and “American Graffiti.” The teen movie canon welcomed the newest member of the Class of 2019 this summer, “Booksmart.”
Olivia Wilde’s (you know her from “The O.C.”, “Tron,” or a number of semi-forgettable romcom-adjacent films of the 2000s) directorial debut kicks into gear in the same place all great dramas and tragedies of the high school variety do: the bathroom. Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are best friends and Ken Burns-documentary-watching, straight-A-earning high school seniors. Molly plans to attend Yale University and become the youngest Supreme Court Justice in history. Amy’s off to Columbia in the fall after a summer abroad. Their late nights in the library have paid off, and the sweet taste of bigger and better awaits them.
That is until Molly overhears her classmates discussing her probable virginity. Seniors the girls wrote off as dense, and juvenile happened to be hardworking as well, so much so that they’ll be headed to several elite intuitions that fall. In shock, Molly confronts them. “You guys don’t care about school.” Triple-A (so named for a rumor of servicing three men alongside the road) scoffs back, “No, we just don’t only care about school.”
Molly and Amy conspire to fit the four years of tomfoolery they missed in the night before their graduation. Their classmates deserve to see them for their fun, choreographed dance greeting and the quick-witted women they are. Sex, too – they deserve sex: Amy with the elusive Ryan, a cool skater girl with bouncy curls, and Molly with the jock Vice President. Jumpsuits are swapped. Parents are avoided. The classic “One Crazy Night” party follows.
“Booksmart” (written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman) is built on a simple premise bolstered by pitch-perfect dialogue. It doesn’t waste time laughing at its own jokes, which left a few storylines unattended, but in the sense that high school felt like a tapestry of open narratives.
The art of the buddy comedy hinges on chemistry. Feldstein and Dever lived together for the duration of the movie’s filming, and unsurprisingly, it shows. The ease with which they deliver what are in some cases incredibly precise and fast-paced lines is as impressive as the looks they exchange in silence on camera.
The casting, by industry superstar Allison Jones (“Freaks and Geeks”; “Superbad”; “Eighth Grade”; “Lady Bird,” to name a few) is the tie that binds. The story unapologetically leans on the characters it builds. There’s the misunderstood rich kid, played by Skyler Gisondo; there’s the sultry Diana Silvers, fresh from dropping out of NYU. Supporting roles by Billie Lourd, Noah Galvin, and Jessica Williams are impressive as well.
The third act of the film boasts Wilde’s directorial chops in both a fantasy sequence and an iconic karaoke scene. The girls land themselves in a massive fight, their crushes don’t pan out, and the whole thing is recorded on partygoers’ cell phones. But they make up, forgive each other, and roll into graduation with day-old hair and stupid grins. Like Molly says in her graduation speech: “Things are never gonna be the same, but it was perfect. And I didn’t before, but I see you now… Don’t let college fuck it up.”
In the “Booksmart” universe, there are no mean kids, no cool kids, and no problems with being smart and fun. It’s idealistic and maybe a bit improbable, but so is coming of age in 2019.
Erika Veurink is a writer living in Brooklyn by way of Iowa.
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