Booksmart (2019)

Bildungsroman is a German term that describes a novel or story that deals with the education or growth of a typically young protagonist. Nowadays we call these stories "Coming-of-Age" stories. But I prefer bildungsroman because I'm a snobby asshole who likes fancy words.

These stories have fascinated us, as a society, for time immemorial. As long as people look back on their youth and long for those halcyon days, the Bildungsroman will have a place in popular culture. They are easy, usually cheap, and reliably crowd-pleasing affairs. Each decade has had a defining Bildungsroman movie: The Graduate (1967), American Graffiti (1973), The Breakfast Club (1985), Can't Hardly Wait (1998) and 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and Superbad (2007).

The Bildungsroman as a genre, however, has started to become a bit stale. How many times can you see a group of teenagers do drugs for the first time? Have their first kiss? Realize that they have more in common with each other than they have differences? Go to their first party? If the genre is to survive, it needs to evolve.

Enter Booksmart (2019).

I. What Is It?

This is the story of two high school seniors (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) who have devoted their four years to study and intellectual  betterment. They are ready for college and the rest of their lives. But before they ride off into their futures, they have decided to go to their first and last high school party. What follows is an adventure through the teenage wasteland for the ages.

II. The Feminine Touch

There is a phrase being used to describe this film that is both apropos and a bit reductive: "Superbad with girls." While this film IS a raunchy, R-rated comedy, to insult it by reducing it to a Superbad clone is a bit disingenuous. Yes, there is an epic party, and there are controlled substances, and there is young love. But Olivia Wilde & Co. remix and re-contextualize those elements in fun and interesting ways.

One of the best things about this movie is that it couches itself in a world of reconciliation. There are no real "bad guys," or cartoonish bullies. Teenagers are casually cruel, but the film allows the characters to discover new things about each other. And it doesn't spare or idealize its heroines. Molly (Feldstein) has convinced herself that she is special because she is a brainy, know-it-all, straight-A student who is going to an Ivy League school. What she doesn't realize is that she has painted herself into that corner. She deprived herself of "fun" under the impression that she was sacrificing one thing for greatness. When she realizes that she isn't the only Ivy League-bound student, it wrecks her identity. By film's end she has come to new understandings with the people around her, the ones she used to judge the most: the stoners, the jocks, and the "loose girl" (in of of the film's quietest, most heart-felt scenes). The movie allows its characters to express themselves, own their sexuality and personalities in empowering ways. It defies archetypes while playing in their ballparks.

It is nice to see strong independent girls on such a journey. And while one of the girls is intent on experiencing "an interesting future anecdote" with her secret crush, the film never defines her by that. Amy, on the other hand is an out and proud lesbian, and she spends some of the film pursuing her own crush. Amy even has a sexual experience, but Wilde treats the scene with goofy romantic charm, and not as a draw fir the male gaze.

However, the film always comes back to the girls' friendship. Their friendship is silly and loyal and wonderful to watch. They are in this nightmarish, fun, teenage fantasia together.

III. Genuine Friendship

Feldstein and Dever are incredible together. Their chemistry is electric. Each actor is capable of gut-busting silliness and heart-wrenching pathos. They never let this thing veer too wildly into absurdism. You will laugh, but Feldstein and Dever keep the story rooted in a real relationship.

IV. Gorgeous

This movie LOOKS great. Yes, it is funny, but director Olivia Wilde and cinematographer Jason McCormick craft indelible images and sequences. There are scenes that are imbued with a fantastical energy: There's a choreographed dance number between Molly and her dream boy, as the lights dim and the colors pop, and a scene where Dever's Amy searches for her own crush underwater in the pool, while the music swells amid the kicking legs and slithering bodies of the party goers. But these are balanced with sequences of great emotional weight: the girls' friendship is tested with an epic spat, while the camera pans between the two of them with new cellphone lights popping up each time the camera swings back around. Wilde has a playful auteur's eye, and I cannot wait to see her next feature.

V. Magical Hollywood High School

The movie occurs in that magical Hollywood high school world where everyone has money, parties are epic, and parents and adults don't seem to pay much attention. This lends the film a slight feel of unbelievability. But, as I said before, the film remains rooted in real relationships. While I would have liked a more "realistic" high school, I can't be too mad. Go along for the ride; you won't be sorry.

VI. A Subplot I Did Not Care For

I am going to discuss spoilers for the film in this section. If you want to walk into this thing fresh, skip this section.

SPOILERS...

I hated the Ms. Fine story. Essentially, Ms. Fine, a young teacher played by Jessica Williams, attends the same epic party that our protagonists do. And she fucks a student. We don't see it, but the film makes it clear that it happened. And it doesn't seem to happen for any real purpose other than to clap that kid on the back for sleeping with a beautiful woman (her name is Ms. FINE, after all). The characters don't change or grow or suffer. It's just a punchline. And it's tired. And it should just have been excised from the movie.

V. Should You See It?

Absolutely. If you love a good R-Rated comedy, you'll be rolling in the aisles with this one. Booksmart  may be one of the defining Bildungsroman movies of this decade. It is fresh, well-constructed, confidently acted, and genuinely fun.

Miscellany

- This is Olivia Wilde's directorial debut.
- The script was originally written in 2009.
- The team was so taken with Billie Lourd's performance that entirely new scenes were written to include her in the film more.