For Her Film Directorial Debut, Olivia Wilde Makes the Smart and Breezy Comedy 'Booksmart'

Booksmart is a teen comedy film about best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), who have spent their entire high school life focusing on working hard to become more academically successful over their peers.  On the eve of graduation, the two learned to their shock that, though they got accepted into the prestigious schools they preferred, so did their less studious, party-loving classmates.  Realizing that they may have missed out on having fun in high school, they become determined to spend the night before graduation to make up for all the partying they didn’t do in the last four years.

As a teen comedy film, Booksmart has all the coming-of-age tropes, archetypal characters, and bawdy jokes familiarly associated with the genre.  But these are packaged in such a funny, thoughtful manner that they make the movie come off as overwhelmingly fresh.

I enjoyed a lot the direction its story went – how that goofy decision of theirs to cram the “high school experience” into one night unfolded hilariously, which in the end yielded life-changing self-reflections, the deepening of their bond as well as the improvement of their view of and relationship with their classmates.

It’s really quite well-written and well-directed.  And thus, commendations are in order for its screenwriters and director – who, by the way, is Olivia Wilde, whom every House M.D. fan will forever remember as Thirteen.  What’s more noteworthy is the fact that this is her first time directing a feature-length film!  She’s definitely up there with Jordan Peele and John Krasinski in terms of surprising and knocking it out of the park with helming and crafting a debut film.

I’m also glad to see Kaitlyn Dever having her first major role outside of Last Man Standing. I’ve always felt she’s the strongest among the Baxter sisters, and possesses the most potential of making it big in the future.  Although her character here is more on the meek side – she’s definitely more effective playing snarky characters like Eve Baxter – her comedic performance is beyond solid nonetheless.

All in all, Booksmart is a breezy but smart teen comedy film.  At the very least, it should make you laugh aplenty and make you shed a tear or two.  And, at the very most, it can make you mull over the inevitability of change, the bittersweetness of the human experience, and the value of becoming less self-absorbed and paying more attention to others.