Composite Score: 81.73

Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, Victoria Ruesga, Mason Gooding, Skyler Gisondo, Diana Silvers, Molly Gordon, and Billie Lourd

Director: Olivia Wilde

Writers: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman

Genres: Comedy, High School

MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content and language throughout, drug use, and drinking – all involving teens

Box Office: $24.96 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Booksmart is Olivia Wilde’s comedy about two high school girls on the last day of their senior year who realize that they have gone their entire high school careers without partying in order to get into good schools (Yale and Columbia), while their peers were able to attain similar – sometimes even the same – ends and still go to parties and all that at the same time. The girls’ determination to party before graduation leads to a wild night of party-hopping, self-discovery, and character development that makes Booksmart a classic of the high school comedy genre. I have heard it referred to as “Mean Girls for Gen Z” and, honestly, that’s a solid comparison, with some obvious differences. It should certainly go down as a must-watch comedy and is one of the best in its genre to be released in quite some time.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                If teens doing teen things is not your cup of tea, this is probably not your film. The adults in this film have limited screen time, and it is mostly used to make fun of the cringey things parents do when their kids are in high school. Personally, I thought it was hilarious, but if you’re out here looking for deep relational drama between kids and their parents, Lady Bird is probably a better option. This film is here for the kids to do what the kids will do, with some occasionally far-fetched situations to really amp up the comedy and storyline.

                There’s also a subplot about the “cool” teacher going to a grad-night party and (implicitly) hooking up with one of the students – yes, he is a super-senior who is 20 years old but still. Clearly, this plays on certain high school comedy tropes of students flirting with teachers and teachers who think they are still cool trying to fit in with the kids, but for a film made in the year of our lord 2019, it feels a little unnecessary. There are still serious issues with people in positions of authority having sexual relationships with those under their watch, regardless of whether they are of age or not, so playing such a relationship for laughs doesn’t quite land for me.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                There are very few films that capture the hectic nature of those last days of high school as well as Booksmart does. Amy’s and Molly’s panic at needing to party because they won’t ever be in high school again resonates with anyone who felt underaccomplished socially at the end of high school. Every student at the parties telling each other how much they are going to miss everyone else and how much they wish they could have spent more time together, regardless of what social circles they ran in up to that point, is incredibly reminiscent of the sudden nostalgia that overtakes most people at the end of their high school years.

Even the many characters and their intricacies serve as solid caricatures of the many people you meet in high school – with a level of honesty that few other films in the genre have achieved. Stoners, jocks, and pretty girls who also got into Ivy League schools act as a simple twist on high school stereotypes that is at the same time probably more accurate than the archetypes they are trying to mimic. Theatre nerds who are both annoying and endearing are pretty par for the course for such films, but also true to life. Dedicated academics who can actually party with the best of them given the chance, as the film’s protagonists discover for themselves, fit in with most people’s high school and/or college careers. But perhaps the best part of the film is its most unique character – Billie Lourd’s Gigi – the “unhinged” best friend to the class’s rich kid who is the embodiment of the extremes of high school emotionality. She loves people that she has never hung out with before; she is at every party but also feels disconnected from each group that is represented; she lives the fullest and emptiest life of all of the students; in short, she is high school incarnate.

                True-to-life characters and situations blown slightly out of proportion take what should be just one of many high school comedies in Booksmart and up it to the level of Great Film. Despite its highly student-centric story and a questionable for modern filmmaking subplot about a teacher hooking up with a student, it triumphs as a film worth its place among the Greatest Films of All Time. I found myself thinking while watching it, “We need to make more comedies like this, with heart, message, and relatability to spare.” There is no question that Booksmart is one of the greats, and you need to stream it ASAP while it’s still on Hulu.