#emily halpern

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*Booksmart (2019, dir. by Olivia Wilde)

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374 - Booksmart

Happy New Year, Garys! We're kicking off 2026 with something more bubbly and light-hearted, 2019's Booksmart. Sold as an ultra-modern and female take on boy-led high school raunch comedies, the film stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein as best friends who decide to live it up after spending their entire high school experience stuck in books. After debuting at SXSW, the film generated a mountain of discussion that yielded disappointing box office results, but managed to stick around in the precursor race until the last minute.

This episode, we talk about the film's delightful ensemble of faces of the future and Olivia Wilde's debut directing duties that earned her a number of first film prizes that season. We also talk about Feldstein's drubbing during the Funny Girl run on Broadway, Dever joins our Six Timers Club, and the shadow of Lady Bird unfairly set expectations for this film.

Topics also include Forte vs. Arnett, the 2019 Globe Musical/Comedy Best Actress nominees, and "I wish you luck with your trees."

The 2019 Academy Awards

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Booksmart, 2019

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Booksmart (2019)

Directed by Olivia Wilde

Cinematography by Jason McCormick

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#651 #Booksmart

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- We haven't done anything. We haven't broken any rules. - Okay, we've broken a lot of rules. One: We have fake IDs. - Fake college IDs, so we can get into their 24-hour library.

Booksmart, Olivia Wilde (2019)

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Booksmart (Olivia Wilde, 2019).

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Booksmart (2019)

What a way to start a directorial career! Olivia Wilde brings us Booksmart and it’s easily the funniest movie of the year. This is a delight, a coming-of-age story which both utilizes the tropes of the genre and subverts them.

On the eve of their high school graduation, overachievers Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) suddenly realize their hours hunched over textbooks, their evenings spent inside studying for exams and all the brown nosing to the teachers has been for naught. They got accepted into the prestigious colleges they wanted... but so did everyone else. They’re the only ones who missed out on having fun and decide to compensate by going all-out and attending the seniors’ biggest end-of-year party.

There are many to thank for this picture’s rousing success. I’ll begin with the lead actresses. Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein play off each other so well you’d swear this is their 10th movie together. Even in simple, throwaway scenes, their connection shines past the frames of the screen. You instantly get how they fit together and are immediately endeared. The way Molly teases her best friend and the way she reciprocates by capping off her sentence with the perfect punchline makes you eager to get along for their wild ride through an evening of shenanigans.

It’s an R-Rated comedy that gets raunchy, but never gross and the female perspective makes it all feel fresh - even if you’ve kinda seen it before. Things which normally annoy me, like characters accidentally taking drugs, feel inspired this time around. It winds up delivering the same kind of laughs we got out of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Superbad or American Pie but in a way more down-to-earth, honest, and approachable… while still remaining hysterical. Once in a while, Booksmart throws you a curveball outta nowhere and leaves you in such a state of shock it takes a second to realize just how funny what happened was. And then it’ll surprise you again by delivering a moment of reflection which challenges high-school stereotypes and makes you reconsider what you thought of these characters once again.

Aspects of Booksmart are tried-and-true and others are minty fresh. It’s got at least 6 big instant-favorite moments who will stay with you, making you chuckle long after the end credits are over. It’s hard to believe it lasts 105 minutes. You kinda wish it were a little longer if anything but that’s the mark of a great production. It comes in and gets out before you even think it’s overstaying its welcome. I’m going to have to do some math and double-check but I think this might be my favorite film of 2019 so far. When I think back to the film's very last line, I know that's the case. (Theatrical version on the big screen, May 25, 2019)