Booksmart is funny in all the right ways

Booksmart is funny in all the right ways

Booksmart, some would say, could be classified as 2019’s “movie of the spring.” Debuted in theaters on May 24th, this was the first ever film directed by actress Olivia Wilde. The unbelievably relatable comedy features an array of character personalities and an extremely diverse and unique cast. Actress Beanie Feldstein stars as the main character of the movie, Molly Davidson, an 18-year-old high school senior who also happens to be the President and Valedictorian of her large high school class. Pairing alongside Feldstein is fellow actress Kaitlyn Dever starring as Amy Antsler, the sidekick-best friend and classmate of Molly.

  The movie attempts to portray the present-day American high school, and does a fantastic job doing so, as it is absolutely relevant and hilarious at the same time. Between the notoriously disgusting high school cafeteria to students boasting their extravagant and flashy cars, the movie nails spot-on the stereotypes and imagery which would usually comes to mind when thinking of a typical high school in the U.S. in 2019.

  The hilariousness of the movie begins immediately with the opening scene: Molly waking up to a rather “assertive” alarm clock by talking to her and giving her motivational advice (with a few curse words mixed in) for the day ahead. After that, Molly and Amy head to school to begin their daily high-school adventure for the second-to-last time. It’s the day before their graduation, and they’ve worked tirelessly to succeed academically throughout their entire high school tenure. But there’s just one problem: They’ve never gotten the thrill of going to parties.

   Molly begins to feel regretful that she never got to experience the party-life of high school, so she suggests that her and Amy need to go all-out on the last night of their high school life. Amy is strictly opposed to the idea only because she doesn’t want to ruin the perfect reputation as excellent students that herself and Molly have worked for long years for, just for everything to be spoiled the night before graduation day.

   Along with the risk of something foolish happening the eve before the big day, Amy insists that going out and partying that night is a bad idea. Although Molly, typically a ticking anxiety-bomb herself, is not too worried about any types of consequences in this scenario; She finally persuades Amy to go out and have the type of exciting night that they’d never yet participated in throughout high school.

  The movie is so comedic and easily-relatable to viewers because of all the classic “everything that could possibly go wrong does go wrong” moments throughout the entire movie. On this adventure-seeking party night, the girls’ phones both die, they continuously end up at the wrong place, and even take an Uber ride where the infamous school principal, Mr. Brown (played by Jason Sudeikis), coincidentally happens to be their the driver.

  Another reason the movie was so highly praised was because of its racial, ethnic, and sexual diversity. The primary on-screen cast consists of many people of Asian, African-American and Hispanic backgrounds. There are also multiple gay and bisexual characters portrayed in the movie which truly depicts many American high schools in today’s society, with a very large prominence of the LGBTQ community in the recent years.

  Amy’s character actually happens to be lesbian, and throughout the movie there are many times where the viewers can observe her confronting and experimenting with her sexuality. The sexuality aspect  added yet another element of a real-life experience or situation many people go through in high school.

  Overall, the movie received very high ratings and general positive feelings across the board. Although there was much exaggeration and overemphasis on many of the events that occurred throughout the movie, the magnification of everything is what makes for a hilarious comedy that is very much relevant in today’s society.