Booksmart review – Not your average high school movie

Actress Olivia Wilde, making her directorial debut, has done an excellent job in taking a fresh and inspiring look at how two brainy students cope with peer pressure in a modern American high school.

Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are bright, work-driven young women attending their final high school year, but because of their strict work ethics they have had little fun mixing with fellow students.

They have been best friends for ages, over-achieving middle-class Los Angeles high school seniors who are approaching graduation day with some trepidation.

Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever in Booksmart. Photo: Annapurna Pictures

They’re far from the cool kids’ table, but still manage to look down their noses at their classmates, confident that their reward after years of studious devotion awaits them, being Yale for Molly and Columbia for Amy.

On the last day of school, however, they are horrified to discover that many of their fun-loving, partying, sexually active classmates also got into Ivy League Colleges, apart from the skater who’s heading straight for Google and a six-figure salary.

Realising that perhaps their sacrifices were for nothing, this brainy twosome intend going to the biggest, most debauched pre-graduation party in town so they can at least say they had one night of fun in high school. But fate has a way of upsetting best-laid plans.

These neurotic teens are so invested in their identity as good, uncool creatures that they’re blind to how condescending they can be to the people they assume are looking down at them. The film doesn’t punish them for this so much as to poke well-intentioned fun at them.

Billie Lourd and Kaitlyn Dever in Booksmart. Photo: Annapurna Pictures

Booksmart is not your average high school movie. It’s funny and smart and the two key players deliver their dialogue with genuine enthusiasm and a deep understanding of the psychological dynamics of the characters they portray.

Info

Rating: ★★★★☆
Cast: Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Diana Silvers, Victoria Ruesga, Noah Galvin, Austin Crute, Skyler Gisondo
Director: Olivia Wilde
Classification: 16 DLS

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