Idressed is one of the hardest working actresses that I’ve had such high expectations from. In her directorial debut, Booksmart a smart sophisticated teen comedy, it is for every girl who has ever been called a ‘try hard’. After the films premiered at SXSW, and the actress turned director appeared in front of a huge audience saying that her vocals in the very beginning were aimed at making a John Hughes level teen comedy. Just as the achievers that the plot of this riotously hilarious film revolves around, she had big dreams, moved mountains, and delivered all the A-pluses. Wilde has delivered a coming of age teenage comedy that is promised to be a cult classic.
Best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) inside a large hall on the last day of the senior year. On the objective of achieving thesis, they succeeded to the position of a valedictorian and a salutatorian. Things are left only regarding the graduation ceremony – a day when they get to spend together with the words that they hate the most, hyperactive classmates. However, the tides change when Molly learns that most of the students who ventured out getting wasted at parties ended up getting accepted into prestigious institutions. Enraged and remorseful, Molly activates Amy to use this last chance and have loads of fun on their last day in school. Applying on lip balm, mace, and the same gray uniforms of Rosie The Riveter, these once poised girls are all primed to explore the wildest drug-infused raging house parties, hit on their crushes, pop the club, and even put on hilarious endeavors of wearing hair as masks to pull effective hair grabs. A memorable celebration of graduate friendships is presented with amusing activities and touching drama.
Booksmart is a romantic comedy filled with some disgustingly funny jokes that was penned by Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman. This is also SXSW, only the last year’s gauze-blockers book must have a lezzie-one-hero, who has never been kissed. It doesn’t help that Amy is totally head over heels for a skater girl, but her super-cool mom and dad think that it’s Molly who is Amy’s “special friend”. So when the girls say they are going to do “Korean face masks”, we should not be surprised if Amy’s mom, the ever hilarious Lisa Kudrow, thinks it is some sex-thing and says rather cheerfully, “I don’t want to know the details”. But that’s not all. Some of their classmates are out and proud, and all have interests beyond some vicious queer caricature. But no, Amy’s is not a coming out story. (That happened in her sophomore year). It is not similar to some desperate race for how fast can a character lose her virginity in an American Pie. Rather, it is focused on helping Amy feel happy in her own skin, an emotional arc that involves secret kisses, sweat and sex, and a bathroom hook up that goes horrifically wrong.
Yet while parts of this are rhinoceros laugh out funny, there is one dressing sequence which has her peeling off the sequined party dress slowly like shedding of the snake skin and that is exquisitely poetic and heart warming. She throws on just her underwear after the woman she has a crush on jumps into the pool. For the first time, she does not look frightened. She goes under the surface and begins to dive and swim. And even though she is not wearing much, Wilde’s camera does not objectify her as a mere pretty girl. Rather, this point is experienced as being beautiful and happy as well as filled with hope. It’s one of those too rare moments of adolescence where you actually feel very happy and energetic and feel that everything is within your reach all you need to do is extend your hand and grab the sky. This is when I gaped at Wilde. For most of this film, Booksmart is exquisite editing with its quick pacing, cool punchline, silly picture, outrageous guest spot or disgusting gag, so frequently that you can almost keep rhythm with these bouncy beats. But rather, she then had that courage and change speed and change the depth of perception, literally speaking. This scene, is void of comedy.
What follows next is a slow sideways tracing of Amy’s departure from the pool, wherein Booksmart makes a turn that is both subtle and painfully true to womanhood.
At that speech before the movie started, before I continue, Wilde had mentioned in a few words also the women on the ‘staff’ of the movie, the reasons from the writers through the stars and on to the editor, the casting director and more. It is commendable that Wendi used that opportunity to enhance the recognition of women in areas where there aren’t many female practitioners, quite particular in the film industry. Having said, the fact in question is held by a conclusion that there was no need for that, because that presence, or rather contribution is heard in every beat of a Booksmart movie, where the female experience is written pretty vividly. The slow builds and the ooohs and aaahs of a school crush. The embarrassed pain of having to be turned down. The hope and anticipation of the first peck. The emotional turbulence of teenage girls in friendships and love, frustration and dependency, fast and easy highs and bitter lows, distressing all at once but very exquisite.
These girls are familiar to you. These girls are you, were you, the girls. They put in their all, and although their ambition and passion are often labeled as geeks, I say f**k the haters, because to each his own and they understand one another. Feldstein and Dever are for sure erudite. Their chemistry is not just magnetic. lt is all consuming. From the first instant they start howling and jumping into a clumsy dance to hype about their last day, they have us in their sweaty palms. Talented comic actress Feldstein from “How to Steal a Million” and “Ladies First” has outperformed herself in all her roles even in the minor ones as Amy’s snappy best friend in “The Neighbors 2” and domineering elder lady in “Ladybird”. Dever is her straight man. And when it comes to the opposite, the more dramatic, the Justified star Is just as sharp. They are simply the perfect shield. But they aren’t the only actresses who deserve glorification for their performances.
Jessica Williams has a minor but entertaining role as a young teacher who behaves stupidly and enjoys it far too much. Diana Silvers looks like a young Julia Roberts with the perfect attitude; she is a hypothetical villain for foxy homegirls to argue with. Molly Gordon, also from SXSW headliner Good Boys, comes as a Triple A, a very cute and promiscuous teenager who states, “I’m great at sucking guys off, but only after getting a 1560 on my SATs.” Book Smart however shows its true colors, and in this instance, the lineage can rather be traced back to the female dominated films by Amy Heckerling rather than John Hughes’ ‘Cringe-worthy’ western teenage dramas. “Triple A” is being bullied by her peers for providing ‘assistance on the highway’ to 3 guys. Fortunately, the circumstances attributed to dulling her sexual history in many a teen comedy where she’s reduced to a caricature of a bimbo stereotype, in booksmart, this girl gets respect, sass, a speech to this degrading label, and in the end a proper name. This particular thread makes sure that ‘m thinking not just about people who want people to look past their racy pictures of themselves, but who has also been in a situation where they have to bear such an otherwise misogynistic repression slur.
Moving on to Gigi, portrayed by Billie Lourd, the most riveting character. Every school has a Gigi. She is the energetic youthful rebel that continually finds herself while conquering the world in background. While teenage girls would settle for simple dressing with tops and jeans, Gigi is always dressed ready to walk through an entrance of the 21-century classical video of the Jonas brother’s or a stylish Instagram blogger’s party. She is charismatic drama addict and one enchanting train wreck. She is the sort of girl whose shenanigans terrify and enthrall us. As for Booksmart, she is like a constant: no logic, no location, no reason – she is there and there and there again. A Gigi is something that cannot be rationalized and Lourd does really care for such enchanted enigma that is Gigi. She’s exciting and crazy whether leaping over the hood of a war vehicle, jumping from a boat into a pool, or dispensing relationship tips like a young shit faced Abigail Van Buren. She’s a strong personality & a comic up to the skies. But there is also a whole aching sheath of her persona’s sadness which is what forms this Gigi character. To put it differently, Lourd is not letting her mother’s iconic and funny standup play go to waste.
Verdict
Wilde prudently assembled a group of capable women for producing a teenage comedy which high-achieving girls would proudly claim as theirs. So, the screenplay is witty, humorous, and drenched in sentiments giving life to characters that are otherwise shamefully ridiculed. And it manages to do all this while providing a mature account of the unique hell that is being a teenage girl, exploring the limitations, expectations and pressures thrust upon them. The cast is great, making the audience laugh, melting their hearts and even evoking the tears. Lourd is terrific, Feldstein and Dever are an amazing comedic partner. And Wilde was brilliant from the beginning. Now I’m curious about her next projects. But I will be happy with just this play for a long time.
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