Booksmart

A fun and funny, familiar yet fresh, raunchy but not rude, end-of-high-school buddy comedy that was well-paced and competently directed by first-time director Olivia Wilde albeit a tad over-tropey and predictable. 

Nonetheless, the excellent and natural chemistry of the two leads, Beanie Feldstein (who almost stole the show from Saoirse Ronan as the best friend in “Lady Bird”) and Kaitlyn Dever (an electric mix of a young Juno-esque Ellen Page and an Amy Pond-era Karen Gillan), drove the story and helped immensely to accelerate through the dull bits especially in the weaker second act. 

The film started strong but once the narrative got going, Wilde and her team of all-female writers seemed to have gotten lost in executing and obviously subverting the patriarchal tropism of the genre, which then, ironically, made those moments became less smart and just a bit more annoyingly preachy. 

Luckily, they all managed to craft a deserving final act; through the 105 minutes there were some chuckles but the genuinely good laughs came at the end which really helped to salvage the film. 

As a director, Wilde has potential. Just based on this film, she may be more suited to television storytelling than movie. She can tell a good story but seemed to lack originality and a personal vision. 

“Booksmart” was a fun, feel-good film that will likely find a bigger audience on streaming than in cinemas, although its actresses Feldstein and Dever are due for their breakouts.