BOOKSMART is an update to the high-school party movie. As a high school graduate of 2015, I can attest that long gone are the days of outright toxicity and vitriol. No longer are upperclassmen hitting children with their cars and assaulting them for money as SHAZAM would have you believe. The simple premise, of two girls who realize they have missed out when they become aware that their more debaucherous peers have equally successful post high school prospects, holds greater truth to the current high school experience. Director Olivia Wilde’s “SUPERBAD with girls” aims have more truthful characters to experience this journey and creates two wonderful leads. However, this more realistic approach clashes with the fantastical adventure they go on, and many moments throughout the film end up feeling unearned.
The film follows Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), a passive girl who has been out of the closet for 2 years though still has yet to experience her first kiss, and Molly (Beanie Feldstein), a hyper-controlling star student already planning her tenure on the Supreme Court. When Molly discovers that her classmates are bad talking her in the bathroom, her confident confrontation fails when she realizes the “losers” all have great colleges and careers lined up. This leads to Molly deciding that she and Amy must spend their last day of high school finding the party Amy’s crush is at. When they are unable to get the address to the event, they spend the evening running around town party hopping.
Throughout the evening their adventures get more and more ridiculous, and the film seems more interested in indulging these than developing the characters it set up for us. At one point in the film, our leads get accidentally drugged and have a psychedelic fever dream that occurs for seemingly no other reason than because it was funny in 21 JUMP STREET. During the climax of the film, our two main characters start fighting and uncovering the tension that has been running through the film, but the music swells and begins to silence the fight, as if to say that Wilde herself isn’t interested in letting us explore the details of the great friendship they’ve set up. More attention is payed to gags that don’t pay off than to the very real characters set up, and the resolutions don’t feel earned.
If you want a fun ridiculous high school party movie, it might be better to re-watch SUPERBAD. If you want a Bildungsroman coming-of-age set in high school, LADY BIRD provides extremely real characters. BOOKSMART tries to walk the line in between, and despite its amazing leads, the end result doesn’t completely succeed.
