Hear Me Out: ‘Booksmart’ is the greatest Saturday night movie ever made
Saturday nights are either a wild celebration or a potential disaster. As the traditional evening for going out, drinking, and partying, it’s seen as a night full of possibilities, but not all of them are positive. For every unforgettable high, there’s someone crashing at the lowest of lows. A person might meet their future soulmate, while another makes a fool of themselves in front of an ex. These extremes are heightened during youth, when every choice feels monumental. Olivia Wilde’s 2019 debut, Booksmart, perfectly captures the chaotic essence of youth, letting you relive it all from the comfort of your couch.
Booksmart tells the story of two high school seniors, Molly and Amy. They’re your classic “good girls”, straight-A students who work hard, follow the rules and get relentlessly bullied for it. Upon finding out that her peers also got into good colleges through much less mental strain, Molly loses it and, with a reluctant Kaitlyn by her side, resolves to cram several years’ worth of misdemeanours into one night.
This synopsis naturally invites comparisons with Superbad, a film that happens to star Beanie Feldstein’s brother, Jonah Hill. While Superbad became a cultural touchstone for one generation, offering a guide (or warning) on what to do during a wild night of partying, Booksmart refreshes the formula for a new era. Molly and Amy, the film’s leads, are objectively kinder and more deserving than their male counterparts in Superbad, making them much easier to root for as they navigate their own chaotic night of self-discovery and fun.
On their wild night out, Molly and Amy attempt to reach one party but end up at two different ones. They find themselves in a car driven by their principal, accidentally watching porn in front of him. They unknowingly consume drug-laced strawberries and hallucinate that they’re Barbies. Amy delivers a heartfelt karaoke rendition of Alanis Morissette. Both girls get close to their crushes, only to witness them making out with each other. After a huge argument, they reconcile, Amy loses her virginity, gets arrested, and they even manage to catch a serial killer—all before their graduation the next day. Though not everything went to plan, they certainly accomplished a lot.
But is there anything in Booksmart that’s particularly original? Well, no, not really. It presents the action through a female perspective, which is definitely worth noting, but in terms of its story beats, characters, and settings, it’s nothing new. But it does all of it so well. Molly and Amy are great protagonists, hapless enough to bring the laughs but sympathetic enough to fit the bill as tragic heroes. The side characters are well-realised and play their own part in the story, and the scrapes the girls find themselves in are funny, cringe, and, while a little extreme, ultimately relatable.
No matter how you feel about Saturday night, Booksmart has you covered. For those who love a wild knees-up, it has all the fun bits of a mad dash around town. For those who could think of nothing worse than staying out late drinking, it’s full of cautionary tales that will make you feel very vindicated. For those looking to recapture their younger days, it has the rollercoaster of young love, the experience of trying drugs for the first time, and all the awkwardness surrounding sex. For those who have happily left childhood behind, its protagonists reach the same conclusion. All of this in just 105 minutes, leaving you plenty of time to go to bed earlier… or sneak out and make your own raucous plans.
For a concept as culturally massive as Saturday night, you need a movie that covers all bases. Booksmart presents its pros and cons all at once, with the viewer being the ultimate judge of whether all that turmoil was worth it. It’s a fantastic movie for a quiet Saturday, even if it’s never made clear on what night of the week it’s set.
