292. Booksmart; movie review

BOOKSMART
Cert 15
102 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex references, language, sex, drug misuse

Ok, I didn't laugh but I was rooting for the quirky lead lasses in Olivia Wilde's Booksmart.
In the space of 102 minutes, Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever wipe away a bagful of stereotypes.
Notably, Dever's is the first gay character that I can recall whose sexuality is simply accepted by friends, enemies, parents and teachers.
In other words, it is so normal that the only sex scene of Booksmart involves her and another girl.
But that is far from Booksmart's focus - the friendship of Feldstein's Molly and Dever's Amy is at its heart and they are more than conventional high school outsiders.
Indeed, Molly has bludgeoned her way to being class president because she thinks her colleagues are inferior intellectually.
It turns out that she has underestimated them just because they are not bookworms like her.
When she discovers they have also won university places her and Amy's world is turned upside down and they realise they need to compensate for not combining a wild time with studying.
In one night!
So, they decide to go to the party of the popular but crazy kid (Mason Gooding) even though they don't know the address.
The voyage of finding out turns out to be a discovery of drink, drugs, sex and a bit of rock'n'roll.
Booksmart has an unusual edge because there is no victimisation. Even though Molly and Amy are not part of the in-crowd, they aren't despised or even disliked.
Indeed, when they make an effort to get to know their adversaries, they are welcomed.
But, despite this, they get into all sorts of strife, enter into dalliances which they would not have believed and even examine their hitherto unconditional relationship with each other.
Sadly, however, while it is sort of clever in parts, Booksmart didn't make me laugh.
Perhaps I have seen the whole end-of-term American party films so many times since Porky's 40 years ago that there just isn't anything new in the genre.
Or perhaps Booksmart was just too geeky for its own good.

Reasons to watch: Quirky teenage comedy
Reasons to avoid: If you aren't plugged into hip gags

Laughs: Just a couple of chuckles for me
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? According to the Oxford Living Dictionary, book-smart means: "Having knowledge acquired from books or study; scholarly, bookish; frequently implying lack of common sense or worldliness."

The final word. Olivia Wilde: "I really appreciate that because that’s why we were able to cast Beanie and Kaitlyn who then magically had perfect chemistry almost immediately. They had been big fans of each other so that really helped and then they lived together all throughout pre-production and production."

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