Booksmart: Film Review

I had heard so many glowing things about Olivia Wilde‘s directorial debut Booksmart so my expectations were super high when I went to see it and I’m pleased to report that it exceeded them. It is such a wonderful film!

Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever star as best friends Molly and Amy who focus on excelling at school to get into a top college at the expense of having fun. On the eve of their high school graduation, they discover that most of their classmates managed to get into top colleges AND have fun so they decide to make up for lost time.

Booksmart is such a feel-good film. I laughed out loud all the time, I had a huge smile on my face throughout and I just came away feeling fantastic. As soon as the credits rolled I thought, “Oh I have to see that again!” If that’s not a resounding endorsement, I don’t know what is!

I thought Feldstein was excellent when I watched her in Lady Bird and I’m so glad she gets to shine in a co-lead role here. I love her attitude, her sass, her facial expressions, her comedic timing and the way she delivers her lines. Dever is best known for her roles in TV shows Justified and Last Man Standing so hopefully, she will be cast in more movies now. She was the perfect match for Feldstein. They had great chemistry and I truly believed they were best friends. Their acting and the script are that realistic.

It doesn’t have the most elaborate plot in the world – they are basically just trying to find this big party – but you don’t need it – the conversations between the two and the scenarios they get themselves into are entertaining enough. There are a lot of other supporting stars that add to the comedy – from Billie Lourd as the weird and rich Gigi (she was a bit too odd to be truly funny), Skyler Gisondo as her brother Jared, Jason Sudeikis as Principal Brown, Noah Galvin as the camp George and Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte as Amy’s parents. There are so many other brilliant young actors but those are the highlights.

The film was consistently funny from the start but it gradually got more hilarious as it went along and became properly 5/5 material during an emotional scene that really gripped me and made me realise how much I cared about these characters and their friendship. I just loved everything about it, particularly the cast, the script and the music. I can’t wait to see it again.

In cinemas from Monday 27th May