Film Review: Booksmart Is A Brilliant Comedy On Female Friendships
Women can be friends, people! Every lady, especially in these trying times, needs a woman that understands the struggle to rise in a world that thinks your biology weakens you. Enter Beanie Feldstein’s hilariously uptight Molly; an intelligent young woman that judges the world she assumes judges her.
Directed by Olivia Wilde, whom I hope to see direct A TON of movies after this, Booksmart is one of the best comedies to come out this year. It is an instant classic that, some, will compare to Superbad or Mean Girls, of which it could feel like a meeting of both through Feldstein’s Molly. Written by Katie Silberman, Feldstein transforms Molly into the ultimate Hillary Clinton/ Rachel Berry prototype. Ambition oozes through her veins more than blood, and you both love and hate her for it. On one hand, you admire her tenacity and determination, but, on the other, you see how blind she can be towards others’ feelings and capacities like, her own best friend, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever).
Dever makes Amy so smart and kind. Her friendship is what reveals how much heart lies in Molly, and, together, they become one of the loveliest female friendships I have ever seen on screen. Again, women do like each other, and we can be fiercely loyal to the friends that grow to be our “chosen sisters.” Amy and Molly are hilarious, bright, and cool, which makes teachers like Ms. Fine (the witty Jessica Williams) and the scene-stealing Gigi (the fierce Billie Lourd) always find them. Feldstein and Dever create a “Laverne and Shirley” dynamic thatis so natural and sparkling, you believe in the film’s outlandishness.
Some people were born ambitious; coming up with a life plan by age 8, which Molly probably did. Yet, at the heart of Booksmart is the these two young women’s valid fear; were their high-school years all work and no play? Imagine molding your entire youth for this “spectacular, historical” future that you SWEAR is going to happen for you because you worked hard. (Cue a million laughs from anyone over 25!) Yet, when you are in high-school, you believe such things are possible. Hence, as a viewer, you understand Molly and Amy’s panic at realizing, all this kids they thought “beneath” them or wasteful in their studies, got into the same colleges as them. They had fun and got rewarded, while Molly and Amy………
There is so much heart packed into Booksmart. It is crisp in pace, constant in laughs, and smooth in development of its characters and their bond. You grow to LOVE Amy and Molly, and are engulfed by their incredibly funny journey to this epiphany; they had a great time in high-school because they were each other’s best friend. Booksmart comes out on May 24.
