Booksmart

I’ve never really liked high school movies, mostly because they never really reflected my experiences of high school. They were either too party fuelled or too traumatic. There’s seemed to be very little that reflected a story of someone who sort of ghosted through high school, neither revered or abused nor interested in the things that most teens are. The issue mostly lies in the fact it depicts an unrealistic life, suggesting that life should have been like that and you’ve wasted the opportunity if it wasn’t.

Films like Eighth Grade are a step in the right direction with grounded realism about high school life, it’s almost staggering that this was written a man in his 30s. Booksmart is closer to Superbad than it is Eighth Grade as it combines the grounded realism of a solid, engaging female friendship with the exaggerated depiction of high school life and the people who are going through it with you. The supporting characters and their antics are by far a step apart from the high school life I lived (perhaps its changed since I last went). All the supporting characters are exaggerated and entertaining characterisations of the people you may find in high school, from the drama student to the more sexually experienced. It’s all fun to watch, but sometimes they don’t feel like real people, but the film manages to make some of their stories work.

Of course, they were never really the focus as it was very much on the central paring of Molly and Amy (played by Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever respectively) whose friendship is the central core of the movie. Their friendship is engaging and Beanie Feldstein’s and Kaitlyn Dever’s chemistry is wonderful as they talk openly about a lot of women’s issues (and frank talk of masturbation), making this female perspective (Booksmart is directed by Olivia Wilde) of a male dominated genre rather refreshing.

Booksmart is a film about not judging on appearance, just because a girl likes giving hand jobs doesn’t mean she won’t get into Harvard (admittedly her fifth choice). Other students, seemingly slackers, have also found themselves at prestigious schools or have found employment at Google. All well and good, but the film never looks at the true reason why these wealthy, attractive teens almost have the chance to hand pick their university. Privilege is the true reason. Students in a school in inner city LA aren’t going to get the same opportunities and for film that is supposedly ‘woke’ this is a blind spot and a wasted opportunity that’s being ignored by others who would normally be up in arms about this injustice.

Granted we have two characters (the so called 1%) who use their wealth to buy people’s friendship but for every other student the movie is so out of kilter with the current public discourse it just feels out of touch with the current climate on the issues. The kids at this fictional high school didn’t work hard like some, more impoverished students would have to have done as it was most likely handed to them on a silver platter (likely by a maid or butler or something) but the film is too busy stressing appearances and person’s personality isn’t always an indicator of intelligence to focus on how lucky each of these students are.

Credit to Olivia Wilde as her directing debut has clearly been a rousing success with the film clearly finding a passionate fan base. The mix between realism and the fantastical (the stop motion animation scene) shows a director with vision even if the latter didn’t appeal to me (I stopped finding genital free action figures funny when I was 7). However, the film’s mix between relatability and impossible fantasy makes it feel indecisive at how it wants to come across. Recent films like Eighth Grade and Lady Bird have had left far more of an impression on me.

3/5